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THE    EXPOSITOR'S    BIBLE 


EDITED   BY  THE    REV. 

W.    ROBERTSON    NICOLL,    M.A.,    LL.D. 

Editor  of  "  The  Expositor'''' 


THE     BOOK     OF     JOSHUA 

BY 

WILLIAM    GARDEN    BLAIKIE,    D.D.,    LL.D. 


NEW    YORK 

A.    C.    ARMSTRONG    AND    SON 
51     EAST    TENTH    STREET 

1893 


THE     EXPOSITOR'S     BIBLE. 

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Colossians. 


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j  1  Samuel. 


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By  Very  Rev.  the  Dean  of  Armagh. 

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New  York  :   A.  C.  ARMSTRONG  &  SON,  51  East  Tenth  Street. 


THE    BOOK    OF  JOSHUA 


WILLIAM  GARDEN  BLAIKIE,  D.D.,  LL.D. 

NEW  COLLEGE,    EDINBURGH 


NEW    YORK 

A.    C.    ARMSTRONG    AND    SON 

51    EAST    TENTH    STREET 
1893 


SX  77 


Printed  by  Hazell,  Watson,  <&'  Viney,  Ld.,  London  and  Aylesbury,  England. 


CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  I. 
INTRODUCTORY  : — THE   BOOK    OF   JOSHUA       ...  I 

CHAPTER   II. 
Joshua's  antecedents 22 

CHAPTER   III. 
A    SUCCESSOR   TO    MOSES 37 

CHAPTER    IV. 
JOSHUA'S    CALL     .  .  ,  ...  .  .  .48 

CHAPTER   V. 
Joshua's  encouragement 60 

CHAPTER   VI. 
Joshua's  charge  to  the  people      .        .         .        .     70 

CHAPTER  VII. 
THE   SPIES    IN   JERICHO 82 

CHAPTER   VIII. 
JORDAN    REACHED  95 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER   IX. 

PAGE 

JORDAN    DIVIDED  . Io6 


CHAPTER   X. 

CIRCUMCISION    AND    PASSOVER MANNA    AND    CORN  .    II7 

CHAPTER   XI. 

THE    CAPTAIN    OF    THE    LORD's    HOST      .  .  .  -     1 28 

CHAPTER   XTI. 
THE    FATE    OF   JERICHO 140 

CHAPTER   XIII. 
RAHAB    SAVED .  .153 

CHAPTER   XIV. 

achan's  trespass       . 165 

CHAPTER   XV. 
ACHAN's    PUNISHMENT 1 77 

CHAPTER    XVI. 
THE    CAPTURE    OF    AI .     189 

CHAPTER   XVII. 
EBAL   AND    GERIZIM        .  .  .  .  .  .  .    20I 

CHAPTER   XVIII. 
THE    STRATAGEM    OF    THE   GIBEONITES  .  •  .  .211 


CONTENTS.  vii 


CHAPTER   XIX. 

PAGE 

THE    BATTLE    OF    BETHHORON  .....    223 


CHAPTER   XX. 
THE    BATTLE    OF    MEROM  ......    236 

CHAPTER    XXI. 
Joshua's  old  age — division  for  the  eastern  tribes  249 

CHAPTER    XX  H. 
THE    inheritance    OF    CALEB  .....    262 

CHAPTER   XXIII. 
the  distribution  of  the  land        ....  275 

CHAPTER   XXIV. 
THE    inheritance    OF    JUDAH 287 

CHAPTER   XXV. 
THE    INHERITANCE    OF    JOSEPH       .  .  .  .  .    300 

CHAPTER   XXVI. 
THE    DISTRIBUTION    COMPLETED 312 

CHAPTER   XXVII. 
THE   CITIES    OF    REFUGE 326 

CHAPTER   XXVIir. 
THE    INHERITANCE    OF    THE    LEVITES      .  ,  .  .    340 


viii  CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER   XXIX. 
NO    FAILURE    OF    GOD's    PROMISE  . 


PAGE 

353 


CHAPTER   XXX. 
THE    ALTAR    ED 365 

CHAPTER   XXXI. 
JEHOVAH    THE    CHAMPION    OF    ISRAEL    .  .  .  -376 

CHAPTER   XXXII. 

Joshua's  last  appeal 388 

CHAPTER   XXXIII. 
Joshua's  work  for  israel        .....  402 


CHAPTER    L 
INTRODUCTORY:    THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 

WITH  a  purely  historical  book  like  Joshua  before 
us,  it  is  of  importance  to  keep  in  view  two  ways 
of  regarding  Old  Testament  history,  in  accordance  with 
one  or  other  of  which  any  exposition  of  such  a  book 
must  be  framed. 

According  to  one  of  these  views,  the  historical  books 
of  Scripture,  being  given  by  inspiration  of  God,  have 
for  their  main  object  not  to  tell  the  story  or  dwell  on 
the  fortunes  of  the  Hebrew  nation,  but  to  unfold  God's 
progressive  revelation  of  Himself  made  to  the  seed  of 
Abraham,  and  to  record  the  way  in  which  that  revela- 
tion was  received,  and  the  effects  which  it  produced. 
The  story  of  the  Hebrew  nation  is  but  the  frame  in 
which  this  Divine  revelation  is  set.  It  was  God's 
pleasure  to  reveal  Himself  not  through  a  formal 
treatise,  but  in  connection  with  the  history  of  a  nation, 
through  announcements  and  institutions  and  practical 
dealings  bearing  in  the  first  instance  on  them.  The 
historical  books  of  the  Hebrews  therefore,  while  they 
give  us  an  excellent  view  of  the  progress  of  the  nation, 
must  be  studied  in  connection  with  God's  main  purpose, 
and  the  supernatural  interpositions  by  which  from  time 
to  time  it  was  carried  out. 

The  other  view  regards  the  historical  books  of  the 
Hebrews  in  much  the  same  light  as  we  look  on  those  of 

I  I 


THE  BOOK   OF  JOSHUA. 


other  nations.  Whatever  may  have  been  their  origin, 
they  are^  as  we  find  them,  Hke  other  books,  and  our 
purpose  in  deahng  with  them  should  be  the  same  as 
in  deahng  with  books  of  similar  contents.  We  are  to 
deal  with  them,  in  the  first  instance  at  least,  from  a 
natural  point  of  view.  We  are  to  regard  them  as 
recording  the  history  and  development  of  an  ancient 
nation — a  very  remarkable  nation,  no  doubt,  but  a 
nation  whose  progress  may  be  referred  to  ascertainable 
causes.  If  we  find  natural  causes  sufficient  to  account 
for  that  progress,  we  are  not  to  call  in  supernatural. 
It  is  an  acknowledged  law,  at  least  as  old  as  Lord 
Bacon,  that  no  more  causes  are  to  be  assigned  for 
phenomena  than  are  true  and  sufficient  to  account  for 
them.  This  law,  and  the  investigations  which  have 
taken  place  under  it,  have  expunged  much  that  used  to 
be  regarded  as  supernatural  from  the  history  of  other 
nations  ;  and  it  will  only  be  according  to  analogy  if  the 
same  result  is  reached  in  connection  with  the  history 
of  Israel. 

In  this  spirit  we  have  recently  had  several  treatises 
dealing  with  that  history  from  a  purely  natural  stand- 
point. Very  earnest  endeavours  have  been  made  to 
clear  the  atmosphere,  to  expiscate  facts,  to  apply  the 
laws  of  history,  to  weigh  statements  in  the  balances  of 
probability,  to  reduce  the  Hebrew  history  to  the  prin- 
ciples of  science.  The  general  effect  of  this  method 
has  been  to  bring  out  results  very  different  from  those 
previously  accepted.  In  particular,  there  has  been  a 
thorough  elimination  of  the  supernatural  from  Hebrew 
history.  Natural  causes  have  been  judged  sufficient 
to  explain  all  that  occurred.  The  introduction  of  the 
supernatural  in  the  narrative  was  due  to  those  obvious 
causes  that  have  operated  in  the  case  of  other  nations 


INTRODUCTORY. 


and  other  religions  : — love  of  the  mythical,  a  patriotic 
desire  to  glorify  the  nation,  the  exaggerating  tendency 
of  tradition,  and  readiness  to  translate  symbolical 
pictures  into  statements  of  literal  occurrences.  Hebrew 
historians  were  not  exempted  from  the  tendencies  and 
weaknesses  of  other  historians,  and  were  ready  enough 
to  colour  and  apply  their  narratives  according  to  their 
own  views.  It  is  when  we  subject  the  Hebrew  books 
to  such  principles  as  these  (such  writers  tell  us)  that  we 
get  at  the  real  history  of  the  nation,  deprived  no  doubt 
of  much  of  the  glory  with  which  it  has  usually  been 
invested,  but  now  for  the  first  time  reliable  history,  on 
which  the  most  scientific  may  depend.  And  as  to  its 
moral  purpose,  it  is  just  the  moral  purpose  that  runs 
through  the  scheme  of  the  world,  to  show  that,  amid 
much  conflict  and  confusion,  the  true,  the  good,  the  just, 
and  the  merciful  become  victorious  in  the  end  over  the 
false  and  the  evil. 

The  difference  between  the  two  methods,  as  an  able 
writer  remarks,  is  substantially  this,  that  ''  the  one 
regards  the  Hebrew  books  as  an  unfolding  of  God's 
nature,  and  the  other  as  an  unfolding  of  the  nature  o^ 
man." 

The  naturalistic  method  claims  emphatically  to  be 
scientific.  It  reduces  all  events  to  historical  law,  and 
finds  for  them  a  natural  explanation.  But  what  if  the 
natural  explanation  is  no  explanation  ?  What  becomes 
of  the  claim  to  be  scientific  if  the  causes  assigned  are 
not  sufficient  to  account  for  the  phenomena  ?  If 
science  will  not  tolerate  unnatural  causes,  no  more 
should  it  tolerate  unnatural  effects.  A  truly  scientific 
method  must  show  a  fit  proportion  between  cause  and 
effect.  Our  contention  is  that,  in  this  respect,  the 
naturalistic  method  is  a  failure.     In  many  instances  its 


THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 


causes  are  wholly  inadequate  to  the  effects.  We  are 
compelled  to  fall  back  on  the  supernatural,  otherwise 
we  are  confronted  with  a  long  series  of  occurrences  for 
which  no  reasonable  explanation  can  be  found. 

We  are  reminded  of  an  incident  which  a  popular 
writer,  under  the  nom  de  plume  of  Edna  Lyall,  has 
introduced  in  a  novel,  bearing  the  title  ''We  Two." 
Erica,  the  daughter  of  an  atheist,  assists  her  father  in 
conducting  a  journal.  She  gets  from  him  for  review  a 
Life  of  David  Livingstone,  with  instructions  to  leave 
his  religion  entirely  out.  As  she  proceeds  with  the 
work,  she  becomes  convinced  that  the  condition  is 
impossible.  To  describe  Livingstone  without  his  reli- 
gion would  be  like  playing  Hamlet  without  the  part  of 
Hamlet.  Not  only  does  she  find  her  task  impossible, 
but  when  she  comes  to  an  incident  where  Livingstone, 
in  most  imminent  danger  of  his  life,  gets  entire  com- 
posure of  mind  from  an  act  of  devotion,  she  becomes 
convinced  that  this  could  not  have  happened  had  there 
not  been  an  objective  reality  corresponding  to  his 
belief;  and  she  is  an  atheist  no  more.  Erica  now  be- 
lieves in  God.     Se  non  e  vero  e  bene  trovato. 

In  like  manner,  we  believe  that  to  delineate  Old 
Testament  history  without  reference  to  the  supernatural 
is  as  impossible  as  to  describe  Livingstone  apart  from 
his  religion.  You  are  baffled  in  trying  to  explain 
actual  events.  Long  ago,  Edward  Gibbon  tried  to 
account  for  the  rapid  progress  and  brilliant  success  of 
Christianity  in  the  early  centuries  by  what  he  called 
secondary  causes.  It  was  really  an  attempt  to  eliminate 
the  supernatural  from  early  Christian  history.  But  the 
five  causes  which  he  specified  w^ere  really  not  causes, 
but  effects, — effects  of  that  supernatural  action  which 
had  its  source    in    the   supernatural   person    of  Jesus 


INTRODUCTORY. 


Christ.  These  ''  secondary  causes  "  never  could  have 
existed  had  not  Jesus  Christ  already  commended  Him- 
self to  all  sorts  of  men  as  a  Divine  Saviour,  sent  by 
God  to  bless  the  world.  In  like  manner  we  maintain 
that  behind  the  causes  by  which  our  naturalistic 
historians  attempt  to  explain  the  remarkable  history  of 
the  Jewish  people,  there  lay  a  supernatural  force,  but 
for  which  the  Hebrews  would  not  have  been  essentially 
different  from  the  Edomites,  the  Ammonites,  the 
Moabites,  or  any  other  Semitic  tribe  in  their  neighbour- 
hood. It  was  the  supernatural  element  underlying 
Hebrew  history  that  made  it  the  marvellous  develop- 
ment it  was  ;  and  that  element  began  at  the  beginning, 
and  continued  more  or  less  actively  till  Jesus  Christ 
came  in  the  flesh. 

Let  us  try  to  make  good  this  position.  Let  us  select 
a  few  of  the  more  remarkable  occurrences  of  early 
Hebrew  history,  and,  in  the  language  of  Gibbon,  make 
'^  a  candid  and  reasonable  inquiry  "  whether  or  not  they 
can  be  accounted  for,  on  the  ordinary  principles  oi 
human  nature,  without  a  supernatural  cause. 

I.  It  is  certain  that  from  the  earliest  times,  and 
during  at  least  the  first  four  centuries  of  their  history, 
the  Hebrew  people  had  an  immovable  conviction  that 
the  land  of  Canaan  was  divinely  destined  to  be  theirs. 
Of  the  singular  hold  which  this  conviction  took  of  the 
minds  of  the  patriarchs,  we  have  innumerable  proofs. 
Abraham  leaves  the  rich  plains  of  Chaldaea  to  dwell 
in  Canaan,  and  spends  a  hundred  3^ears  in  it,  a 
stranger  and  a  pilgrim,  without  having  a  single  acre 
of  his  own.  When  he  sends  to  Padan  Aram  for  a 
wife  to  Isaac  he  conjures  his  servant  on  no  account  to 
listen  to  any  proposal  that  Isaac  should  settle  there  ; 
the    damsel    must    at    all    hazards    come    to    Canaan. 


THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 


When  Jacob  determines  to  part  from  Laban,  he  sets 
his  face  resolutely  towards  his  native  land  across  the 
Jordan,  although  his  injured  brother  is  there,  thirsting 
as  he  knows  for  his  blood.  When  Joseph  sends  for 
his  father  to  go  down  to  Egypt,  Jacob  must  get  Divine 
permission  at  Beersheba  before  he  can  comfortably  go. 
Joseph,  for  his  services  to  Egypt,  might  reasonably 
have  looked  for  a  magnificent  tomb  in  that  country  to 
cover  his  remains  and  perpetuate  his  memory ;  but, 
strange  to  say,  he  prefers  to  remain  unburied  for  an 
indefinite  time,  and  leaves  a  solemn  charge  to  his  people 
to  bury  him  in  Canaan,  carrying  his  bones  with  them 
when  they  leave  Egypt.  In  the  bitterness  of  their 
oppression  by  Pharaoh  it  would  have  been  much  more 
feasible  for  their  champions,  Moses  and  Aaron,  to  try 
to  obtain  a  relaxation  of  their  burdens ;  but  their 
demand  was  a  singular  one — liberty  to  go  into  the 
wilderness,  with  the  hardly  concealed  purpose  of 
escaping  to  the  land  of  their  affections.  Goshen  was 
a  goodly  land,  but  Canaan  had  a  dearer  name — it  was 
the  land  of  their  fathers,  and  of  their  brightest  hopes. 
The  uniform  tradition  was,  that  the  God  whom  Abraham 
worshipped  had  promised  to  give  the  land  to  his 
posterity,  and  along  with  the  land  other  blessings  of 
mysterious  but  glorious  import.  With  this  promise 
was  connected  that  Messianic  hope  which  like  a  golden 
thread  ran  through  all  Hebrew  history  and  literature, 
brightening  it  more  and  more  as  the  ages  advanced. 
It  is  vain  to  account  for  this  extraordinary  faith  in 
the  land  as  theirs,  and  this  remarkable  assurance  that 
it  would  be  the  scene  of  unwonted  blessing,  apart  from 
a  supernatural  communication  from  God.  To  suppose 
that  it  originated  in  some  whim  or  fancy  of  Abraham's 
or  in  the  saga  of  some  old  bard  like  Thomas  the  Rhymer, 


INTRODUCTORY. 


and  continued  unimpaired  century  after  century,  is  to 
suppose  what  was  never  realized  in  the  history  of  any 
people.  In  vain  do  we  look  among  natural  causes  for 
any  that  could  have  so  impressed  itself  on  a  whole 
nation,  and  swayed  their  whole  being  for  successive 
ages  with  irresistible  force.  That  ''  God  spake  to 
Abraham  to  give  him  the  land  "  was  the  indefeasible 
conviction  of  his  descendants ;  nor  could  any  con- 
sideration less  powerful  have  sustained  their  hopes,  or 
nerved  them  to  the  efforts  and  perils  needful  to  realize  it. 
2.  No  more  can  the  leaving  of  Egypt,  with  all  that 
followed,  be  accounted  for  without  supernatural  agency. 
It  is  the  contention  of  the  naturalistic  historian  that  the 
Israelites  were  very  much  fewer  in  number  than  the 
Scripture  narrative  alleges.  But  if  so,  how  could  an 
empire,  with  such  immense  resources  as  the  monuments 
show  Egypt  to  have  had,  have  been  unable  to  retain 
them  ?  Wellhausen  affirms  that  at  the  time  Egypt  was 
weakened  by  a  pestilence.  We  know  not  his  authority 
for  the  statement ;  but  if  the  Egyptians  were  weakened, 
the  Israelites  (unless  supernaturally  protected)  must 
have  been  weakened  too.  Make  what  we  may  of  the 
contest  between  Moses  and  Pharaoh,  it  is  beyond  dis- 
pute that  Pharaoh's  pride  was  thoroughly  roused,  and 
that  his  firm  determination  was  not  to  let  the  children 
of  Israel  go.  And  if  we  grant  that  his  six  hundred 
chariots  were  lost  by  some  mishap  in  the  Red  Sea, 
what  were  these  to  the  immense  forces  at  his  disposal, 
and  what  was  there  to  hinder  him  from  mustering  a 
new  force,  and  attacking  the  fugitives  in  the  wilderness 
of  Sinai  ?  Pharaoh  himself  does  not  seem  to  have 
entered  the  sea  with  his  soldiers,  and  was  therefore  free 
to  take  other  steps.  How,  then,  are  we  to  account  for 
the  sudden  abandonment  of  the  campaign  ? 


THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 


3.  And  as  to  the  residence  in  the  wilderness,  even  if 
we  suppose  that  the  Israelites  were  much  fewer  in  num- 
ber than  is  stated,  they  were  far  too  great  a  multitude 
to  be  supported  from  the  scanty  resources  of  the  desert. 
The  wilderness  already  had  its  inhabitants,  as  Moses 
knew  right  well  from  his  experience  as  a  shepherd  ;  it 
had  its  Midianites  and  Amalekites  and  other  pastoral 
tribes,  by  whom  the  best  of  its  pastures  were  eagerly 
appropriated  for  the  maintenance  of  their  flocks.  How, 
in  addition  to  these,  were  the  hosts  of  Israel  to  obtain 
support  ? 

4.  And  how  are  we  to  explain  the  extraordinary  route 
which  they  took  ?  Why  did  they  not  advance  towards 
Canaan  by  the  ordinary  way — the  wilderness  of  Shur, 
Beersheba,  and  Hebron  ?  Why  cross  the  Red  Sea  at 
all,  or  have  anything  to  do  with  Mount  Sinai  and  its 
awful  cliffs,  which  a  glance  at  the  map  will  show  was 
entirely  out  of  their  way  ?  And  when  they  did  take  that 
route,  what  would  have  been  easier  than  for  Pharaoh, 
if  he  had  chosen  to  follow  them  with  a  new  force,  to 
hem  them  in  among  these  tremendous  mountains,  and 
massacre  or  starve  them  at  his  pleasure  ?  If  the 
Israelites  had  no  supernatural  power  to  fall  back  on, 
their  whole  course  was  simply  madness.  We  may  talk 
of  good  fortune  extricating  men  from  difficulties,  but 
what  fortune  that  can  be  conceived  could  have  availed 
a  people,  professing  to  be  bound  for  the  land  of  Canaan, 
that,  without  food  or  drink  or  stores  of  any  kind,  had 
wandered  into  the  heart  of  a  vast  labyrinth,  for  no 
reasonable  purpose  under  the  sun  ? 

5.  Nor  can  the  career  of  Moses  be  made  intelligible 
without  a  supernatural  backing.  The  contention  is, 
that  the  desire  of  the  people  in  Egypt  for  deliverance 
having  become  very  strong,  especially  in   the  tribe  of 


INTRODUCTORY. 


Levi,  they  sent  Aaron  to  find  Moses,  remembering  his 
former  attempt  on  their  behalf;  and  that,  under  the 
able  leadership  of  Moses,  their  deliverance  was  secured 
by  natural  means.  But  does  this  explain  the  actual 
campaign  in  Sinai  ?  Who  ever  heard  of  a  leader  that, 
after  he  had  roused  the  enthusiasm  of  his  people  by  a 
brilliant  deliverance,  arrested  their  further  progress  in 
order  to  preach  to  them  for  a  twelvemonth,  and  give 
them  a  system  of  law  ?  Did  Moses  not  possess  that 
instinct  of  a  general  that  must  have  urged  him  to  push 
on  the  moment  the  Egyptians  were  drowned,  and  amid 
the  enthusiasm  of  his  own  troops  and  the  consternation 
of  the  Canaanites,  fling  his  army  upon  the  seven 
nations,  and  seize  their  land  by  a  coup  de  mam  ? 
Abraham  before  him  and  Joshua  after  him  found  the 
value  of  such  prompt,  sudden  movements.  Never  had  a 
leader  a  more  splendid  opportunity.  What  could  have 
induced  Moses  to  throw  away  his  chance,  bury  his  people 
among  the  mountains,  and  remain  inactive  for  months 
upon  months  ?  Is  there  any  conceivable  explanation 
but  that  he  acted  by  supernatural  direction  ?  The 
Divine  plan  was  entirely  different  from  any  that  human 
wisdom  would  have  contrived.  It  is  as  clear  as  day 
that,  had  there  been  no  Divine  power  controlling  the 
movement,  the  course  taken  by  Moses  would  have  been 
simply  insane. 

6.  Nor  could  the  law  of  Moses,  first  given  in  such 
circumstances,  have  acquired  the  glory  which  sur- 
rounded it  ever  after,  had  there  been  no  manifestation 
of  the  Divine  presence  at  Sinai.  The  people  were 
greatly  dissatisfied,  especially  at  their  delays.  The 
only  course  that  would  have  quieted  them  was  to  push 
on  towards  Canaan,  so  that  their  minds  might  be  ani- 
mated by  the  enthusiasm  of  hope.   Under  their  detentions 


lo  THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 

they  greedily  seized  every  occasion  that  presented 
itself  for  growling  against  Moses.  How  little  they 
were  in  sympathy  with  his  ideas  of  religion  and  worship 
was  apparent  from  the  affair  of  the  golden  calf  The 
history  of  the  time  is  an  almost  unbroken  record  of 
murmuring,  complaining,  and  rebellion.  Yet  the  law 
which  originated  with  Moses  in  these  circumstances 
became  the  very  idol  of  the  people,  and,  according  to 
the  naturalistic  historians,  was  the  means  of  creating 
the  nation,  and  welding  the  tribes  into  a  living  unity ! 
We  can  quite  easily  understand  how,  in  spite  of  all 
their  growlings,  the  law  as  given  at  Sinai  should  have 
taken  the  firmest  hold  of  their  imagination  and  kindled 
their  utmost  enthusiasm  in  the  end,  if  it  was  accompanied 
by  those  tokens  of  the  Divine  presence  which  the  whole 
literature  of  the  Hebrews  assumes.  And  if  Moses 
was  closely  identified  with  the  Divine  Being,  the  sur- 
passing glory  of  the  occasion  must  have  been  reflected 
on  him.  But  to  suppose  that  a  discontented  people 
should  have  had  their  enthusiasm  roused  for  the  law 
simply  because  this  Moses  commanded  them  to  observe 
it,  and  that  they  should  ever  after  have  counted  it  the 
holiest,  the  most  Divine  law  that  men  had  ever  known, 
is  again  to  postulate  an  effect  without  a  cause,  and  to 
suppose  a  whole  people  acting  in  disregard  of  the 
strongest  propensities  of  human  nature. 

7.  Then,  as  to  the  generalship  of  Moses.  How  are 
we  to  explain  the  further  detention  of  the  people  in  the 
wilderness  for  nearly  forty  years  ?  If  this  was  not  the 
result  of  a  supernatural  Divine  decree,  it  must  have 
proceeded  from  the  inability  of  Moses  to  lead  the 
people  to  victory.  No  people  who  had  struggled  out 
of  bondage  in  order  to  enter  a  land  flowing  with  milk 
and  honey,  would  of  their  own  accord  have  spent  forty 


INTRODUCTORY.  ii 


years  in  the  wilderness.  At  Hormah,  they  were  wiUing 
to  fight,  but  Moses  would  not  lead  them,  and  they  were 
beaten.  Either  the  wandering  of  the  forty  years  was 
a  Divine  punishment,  or  the  generalship  of  Moses  was 
at  fault.  He  abandoned  himself  to  inaction  for  an  un- 
precedented period.  There  was  no  shadow  of  benefit  to 
be  gained  by  this  delay  ;  nothing  could  come  of  it  (apart 
from  the  Divine  purpose)  but  wearing  out  the  patience 
of  the  people,  and  killing  them  with  the  sickness  of 
hope  deferred.  And  if  it  should  be  said  that  the  forty 
years'  wandering  was  a  myth,  and  that  probably  the 
wilderness  sojourn  did  not  exceed  a  year  or  two  at 
most,  is  it  conceivable  that  any  people  in  its  senses 
would  invent  such  a  legend  ? — a  legend  that  covered 
them  with  shame,  and  that  was  felt  to  be  so  disgraceful 
that  the  whole  region  was  shunned  by  them ;  insomuch 
that  with  the  exception  of  Elijah,  we  do  not  read  of  any 
member  of  the  nation  ever  making  a  pilgrimage  to  the 
spot  which  otherwise  must  have  had  overwhelming 
attractions. 

8.  At  last  Moses  suddenly  awakes  to  activity  and 
courage.  And  the  next  difficulty  is  to  account  for  his 
success  at  the  eleventh  hour  of  his  life,  if  he  had  no 
supernatural  help.  No  phrase  occurs  more  frequently 
in  naturalistic  explanations  than  ''it  is  likely."  Likeli- 
hood is  the  touchstone  to  which  all  extraordinary  state- 
ments are  brought,  although,  as  Lord  Beaconsfield  used 
to  tell  us,  ''  it  is  the  unexpected  that  happens."  Borrow- 
ing the  touchstone  for  the  nonce,  we  may  ask.  Is  it  likely 
that,  after  a  sleep  of  eight-and-thirty  years,  Moses  of 
his  own  accord,  without  any  apparent  change  of  circum- 
stances, sprang  suddenly  to  his  feet,  and  urged  the 
people  to  attempt  the  invasion  of  the  land  ?  Is  it  likely 
that  all  the  inertia  and  fears  of  the  people  vanished  in 


12  THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 

a  moment,  as  if  at  the  touch  of  a  magician's  wand  ? 
And  when  it  came  to  actual  fighting,  is  it  likely  that 
these  shepherds  of  the  desert  were  able  of  themselves 
not  only  to  stand  before  a  trained  and  successful  warrior 
like  Sihon  King  of  the  Amorites,  who  had  so  lately 
overrun  the  country,  but  to  defeat  him  utterly  and 
take  possession  of  his  whole  territory  ?  Is  it  likely 
that  Sihon's  neighbour,  Og  King  of  Bashan,  though 
warned  by  the  fate  of  Sihon,  and  therefore  sure  to 
make  a  more  careful  defence,  shared  the  fate  of  the 
other  king  ?  Or  if  Og  was  a  mere  myth,  as  Wellhausen 
strangely  maintains,  is  it  likely  that  the  Israelites  got 
possession  of  the  powerful  cities  and  well-defended 
kingdom  of  Bashan  without  striking  a  blow  ?  Is  it 
likely  that,  after  this  brilliant  victory,  Moses,  who  was 
still  in  full  vigour,  detained  them  again  for  weeks  to 
preach  old  sermons,  and  sing  them  songs,  and  make 
pathetic  speeches,  instead  of  dashing  at  once  at  the 
petrified  people  on  the  other  side,  and  acquiring  the 
great  prize — Western  Palestine  ?  Strange  mortal  this 
Moses  must  have  been  ! — wise  enough  to  give  the  people 
an  unexampled  constitution  and  system  of  laws,  and  yet 
blind  to  the  most  obvious  laws  of  military  science,  and 
the  most  elementary  perceptions  of  common  sense. 

And  now  we  come  to  Joshua,  and  to  the  book  that 
records  his  achievements. 

Joshua  was  no  prophet ;  he  made  no  claim  to  the 
prophetic  character ;  he  succeeded  Moses  only  as 
military  leader.  Consequently  the  Book  of  Joshua 
contains  little  matter  that  would  fall  under  the  term 
''  revelation."  But  both  the  work  of  Joshua  and  the 
book  of  Joshua  served  an  important  purpose  in  the 
plan  of  Divine  manifestation,  inasmuch  as  they  showed 


INTRODUCTORY. 


God  fulfilling  His  old  promises,  vindicating  His  faithful- 
ness, and  laying  anew  a  foundation  for  the  trust  of 
His  people.  In  this  point  of  view,  both  the  work  and 
the  book  have  an  importance  that  cannot  be  exaggerated. 
The  naturalistic  historian  regards  the  book  as  merely 
setting  forth,  with  sundry  traditional  embellishments, 
the  manner  m  which  one  people  ousted  another  from 
their  country,  much  as  those  who  were  then  evicted 
had  dispossessed  the  previous  inhabitants.  But  who- 
ever believes  that,  centuries  before,  God  made  a  solemn 
promise  to  Abraham  to  give  that  land  to  his  seed, 
must  see  in  the  story  of  the  settlement  the  unfolding 
of  a  Divine  purpose,  and  a  solemn  pledge  of  blessings 
to  come.  ''  The  Ancient  of  days,"  who  '*  declares 
the  end  from  the  beginning,"  is  seen  to  be  faithful  to 
His  promises  ;  and  if  He  has  been  thus  faithful  in  the 
past,  he  may  surely  be  trusted  to  be  faithful  in  the 
future. 

If,  then,  Joshua's  work  was  a  continuation  of  the 
work  of  Moses,  and  his  book  of  the  books  of  Moses, 
both  must  be  regarded  from  the  same  point  of  view. 
You  cannot  explain  either  of  them  reasonably  in  a  merely 
rationalistic  sense.  Joshua  could  no  more  have  settled 
the  people  in  Canaan  by  merely  natural  means  than 
Moses  could  have  delivered  them  from  Pharaoh  and 
maintained  them  for  years  in  the  wilderness.  In  the 
history  of  both  you  see  a  Divine  arm,  and  in  the  books 
of  both  you  find  ja  chapter  of  Divine  revelation.  It  is 
this  that  gives  full  credibility  to  the  miracles  which  they 
record.  What  happened  under  Joshua  formed  a  most 
important  chapter  of  the  process  of  revelation  by  which 
God  made  Himself  known  to  Israel.  In  such  circum- 
stances, miracles  were  not  out  of  place.  But  if  the 
Book  of  Joshua  is  nothing  more  than  the  record  of  a 


14  THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 

raid  by  one  nation  on  another,  miracles  were  uncalled 
for,  and  must  be  given  up. 

Rationalists  may  count  us  wrong  in  believing  that 
the  Hebrew  historical  books  are  more  than  Hebrew 
annals — are  the  records  of  a  Divine  manifestation. 
But  they  cannot  hold  us  unreasonable  or  inconsistent 
if,  believing  this,  we  believe  in  the  miracles  which 
the  books  record.  Miracles  assume  a  very  different 
character  when  they  are  connected  into  a  sublime 
purpose  in  the  economy  of  God ;  when  they  signalize 
a  great  epoch  in  the  history  of  revelation — the  comple- 
tion of  a  great  era  of  promise,  the  fulfilment  of  hopes 
delayed  for  centuries.  The  Book  of  Joshua  has  thus 
a  far  more  dignified  place  in  the  history  of  revelation 
than  a  superficial  observer  would  suppose.  And  those 
historians  who  bring  it  down  to  the  level  of  a  mere 
record  of  an  invasion,  and  who  leave  out  of  account 
its  bearing  on  Divine  transactions  so  far  back  as  the 
days  of  Abraham,  spoil  it  of  its  chief  glory  and  value 
for  the  Church  in  every  age.  There  is  nothing  of  more 
importance,  whether  for  the  individual  believer  or  for 
the  Church  collectively,  than  a  firm  conviction,  such 
as  the  Book  of  Joshua  emphatically  supplies,  that  long 
delays  on  God's  part  involve  no  forgetfulness  of  His 
promises,  but  that  whenever  the  destined  moment  comes 
^'  no  good  thing  will  fail  of  all  that  He  hath  spoken." 

The  Book  of  Joshua  consists  mainly  of  two  parts  ; 
one  historical,  the  other  geographical.  It  was  the  old 
belief  that  it  was  the  work  of  a  single  writer,  with  such 
slight  revision  at  an  after  time  as  a  writing  might 
receive  without  essential  interference  with  its  substance. 
The  author  was  sometimes  supposed  to  be  Joshua 
himself,  but  more  commonly  one  of  the  priests  or  elders 


INTRO  D  UCTOR  Y.  1 5 


who  outlived  Joshua,  and  who  might  therefore  fitly 
record  his  death.  It  has  been  remarked  that  there  are 
several  traces  in  the  book  of  contemporary  origin,  like 
the  remark  on  Rahab — ^'  She  dwelleth  in  Israel  even 
unto  this  day"  (vi.  25).  It  must  be  allowed,  we  think,' 
that  there  is  not  much  in  this  book  to  suggest  to  the 
ordinary  reader  either  the  idea  of  a  late  origin  or  of 
the  use  of  late  materials. 

But  recent  critics  have  taken  a  different  view.  Ewald 
maintained  that,  besides  the  Jehovist  and  Elohist  writers 
of  whose  separate  contributions  in  Genesis  the  evidence 
seems  incontrovertible,  there  were  three  other  authors 
of  Joshua,  with  one  or  more  redactors  or  revisers. 
The  view  of  Kuenen  and  Wellhausen  is  similar,  but 
with  this  difference,  that  the  Book  of  Joshua  shows  so 
much  affinity,  both  in  object  and  style,  to  the  preceding 
five  books,  that  it  must  be  classed  with  them,  as  setting 
forth  the  origin  of  the  Jewish  nation,  which  would  not 
have  been  complete  without  a  narrative  of  their  settle- 
ment in  their  land.  The  composition  of  Joshua  is 
therefore  to  be  brought  down  to  a  late  date ;  we  owe  it 
to  the  documents,  writers,  and  editors  concerned  in  the 
composition  of  the  Pentateuch  ;  and  instead  of  following 
the  Jews  in  classing  the  first  five  books  by  themselves, 
we  ought  to  include  Joshua  along  with  them,  and 
in  place  of  the  Pentateuch  speak  of  the  Hexateuch. 
Canon  Driver  substantially  accepts  this  view  ;  in  his 
judgment,  the  first  part  of  the  book  rests  mainly  on  the 
JE  (Jehovist-Elohist)  document,  with  slight  additions 
from  P  (the  priestly  code)  and  D^  (the  second 
Deuteronomist).  The  second  half  of  the  book  is  derived 
mainly  from  the  priestly  code.  But  Canon  Driver  has 
the  candour  to  say  that  it  is  much  more  difficult  to 
distinguish  the  writers  in  Joshua  than  in  the  earlier 


1 6  THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 

books  ;  and  so  little  is  he  sure  of  his  ground  that  even 
such  important  documents  as  J  and  E  have  to  be 
designated  by  new  letters,  a  and  b.  But,  all  the  same, 
he  goes  right  on  with  his  scheme,  furnishing  us  with 
tables  all  through,  in  which  he  shows  that  the  Book 
of  Joshua  consists  of  ninety  different  pieces,  no  two 
consecutive  pieces  being  by  the  same  author.  Most 
of  it  he  refers  to  three  earlier  writings,  but  some  of 
these  were  composite,  and  it  is  hard  to  say  how  many 
hands  were  engaged  in  putting  together  this  simple 
story. 

One  is  tempted  to  say  of  this  complicated  but  con- 
fidently maintained  scheme,  that  it  is  just  too  complete, 
too  wonderfully  finished,  too  clever  by  half  Allowing 
most  cordially  the  remarkable  ability  and  ingenuity  of 
its  authors,  we  can  hardly  be  expected  to  concede  to 
them  the  power  of  taking  to  pieces  a  book  of  such  vast 
antiquity,  putting  it  in  a  modern  mincing  machine, 
dividing  it  among  so  many  supposed  writers,  and  settling 
the  exact  parts  of  it  written  by  each  1  Is  there  any 
ancient  writing  that  might  not  yield  a  similar  result  if 
the  same  ingenuity  were  exercised  upon  it  ? 

To  judge  of  the  source  of  writings  by  apparent 
varieties  of  style,  and  call  in  a  different  writer  for  every 
such  variety,  is  to  commit  oneself  to  a  very  precarious 
rule.  There  are  doubtless  cases  where  the  diversity 
of  style  is  so  marked  that  the  inference  is  justified, 
but  in  these  the  evidence  is  unmistakably  clear.  Often 
the  evidence  against  identity  of  authorship  appears 
very  clear,  while  it  is  absolutely  worthless.  Suppose 
that  three  thousand  years  hence  an  English  book 
should  be  found,  consisting,  first,  of  an  eloquent  ex- 
position of  a  parliamentary  budget ;  secondly,  a  scheme 
for  Home  Rule  in  Ireland  ;  thirdly,  a  dissertation  on 


INTROD  UCTOR  Y.  1 7 


Homer ;  and  fourthly,  essays  on  the  '*  Impregnable 
Rock  of  Holy  Scripture  " — how  convincingly  might  the 
critics  of  the  day  demonstrate,  beyond  possibility  of 
contradiction,  that  the  book  could  not  be  the  work  of  the 
single  man  who  bore  the  name  of  William  E.  Gladstone  ! 
In  like  manner,  it  might  be  made  very  plain  that 
Milton  could  never  have  written  both  ''  L' Allegro  " 
and  *' II  Penseroso,"  or  ''Paradise  Lost"  and  the 
**  Defence  of  the  English  People."  Cowper  could  not 
have  written  ''John  Gilpin"  and  "God  moves  in  a 
mysterious  way."  Samuel  Rutherford  could  not  have 
written  his  "  Letters  "  and  his  "  Divine  Right  of  Church 
Government."  Moreover,  in  the  course  of  years  a  writer 
may  change  his  style,  even  when  his  subject  is  the  same. 
The  earlier  essays  of  Mr.  Carlyle  show  no  traces  of  that 
most  quaint,  terse,  graphic  style  which  became  one  of 
his  outstanding  characteristics  in  later  years.  Perhaps 
the  most  remarkable  instance  of  change  of  style  in  a 
great  writer  is  that  of  Jeremy  Bentham.  In  Sir  James 
Mackintosh's  Dissertation  prefixed  to  the  Encyclopcedia 
Britannica  (eighth  edition)  he  says  :  "  The  style  of  Mr. 
Bentham  underwent  a  more  remarkable  revolution  than 
perhaps  befell  that  of  any  other  celebrated  writer.  In 
his  early  works,  it  was  clear,  free,  spirited,  often  and 
seasonably  eloquent.  .  .  .  He  gradually  ceased  to  use 
words  for  conveying  his  thoughts  to  others,  but  merely 
employed  them  as  a  short  hand  to  preserve  his  meaning 
for  his  own  purpose.  It  is  no  wonder  that  his  language 
thus  became  obscure  and  repulsive.  Though  many  of 
his  technical  terms  are  in  themselves  exact  and  pithy, 
yet  the  overflow  of  his  vast  nomenclature  was  enough 
to  darken  his   whole  diction." 

If  we  compare  the  criticism  of  the  Book  of  Joshua 
with  that  (let  us  say)  of  Genesis,  the  difference  in  the 

2 


1 8  THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 


clearness  of  the  conclusions  is  very  great.     By  far  the 
most  striking  basis   of  the  criticism  of  Genesis  is  the 
feature  that  was  noticed  first — the  occurrence  of  differ- 
ent  Divine  names,    Elohim   and  Jehovah,   in    different 
portions  of  the   book.     Now,  although  it  is  held  that 
the    combined  JE    document    was    used    in    compiling 
Joshua,  there  is  no  trace  of  this  distinction  of  names 
in  that  book.      Nor  is  there  much  trace  of  other  distinc- 
tions found  in  Genesis.     So  that  it  is  no  great  wonder 
that  Canon  Driver  is  uncertain  whether,  after  all,  that 
was  the  document  that  was  used  in  compiling  Joshua. 
Then,  as  to  the  grounds  on  which  the  Deuteronomist 
is  supposed  to  have  had  a  share  in  the  book.     Wherever 
anything    is    said    indicating    that   under    Joshua    the 
Divine  purposes   and  ordinances   enjoined  by  God   on 
Moses  were  fulfilled,  that  is  referred  to  the  Deuterono- 
mist writer,  as  if  it  would  have  been   unnatural  for  an 
ordinary  historian  to  call  attention  to  such  a   circum- 
stance.     For  instance,   the  remark   of  Rahab  that  as 
soon  as  the  Canaanites  heard  what  God  had  done  to 
Egypt,  and  to  the  two  kings  of  the  Amorites  on  the 
other  side  of  Jordan,  their  hearts  fainted,  is  referred  to 
the  Deuteronomist,  as  if  it  had  rather  been  an  idea  of 
his  than  a  statement   of  Rahab's.     It  is   strange  that 
Canon  Driver   should   not   have  seen   that  this  is  the 
very  hinge  of  Rahab's  speech,   because  it  gives  us  the 
explanation    of  the    remarkable  faith    that   had    taken 
possession  of  her  polluted  heart.      The  truth  is,  we  can 
hardly  conceive  that  any  part  of  the  book  should  have 
been  written  by  one  who  did  not  connect  Joshua  with 
Moses,  and  both  of  them  with  the  patriarchs,  and  who 
was  not  impressed  by  the  vital  connection  of  the  earlier 
with  the  later  tran'iactions,  and  likewise  by  the  single 
Divine  purpose  running  through  the  whole  history. 


INTRODUCTORY.  19 


But  we  are  far  from  thinking  that  there  is  no  founda- 
tion for  any  of  the  conclusions  of  the  critics  regarding 
the  Book  of  Joshua.  What  seems  their  great  weakness 
is  the  confidence  with  which  they  assign  this  part  to 
one  writer  and  that  part  to  another,  and  bring  down 
the  composition  of  the  book  to  a  late  period  of  the 
histor}^  That  various  earlier  documents  were  made 
use  of  by  the  author  of  the  book  seems  very  plain. 
For  instance,  in  the  account  of  the  crossing  of  the 
Jordan,  use  seems  to  have  been  made  of  two  documents, 
not  always  agreeing  in  minute  details,  and  pieced 
together  in  a  primitive  fashion  characteristic  of  a  very 
early  period  of  literary  composition.  The  record  of  the 
delimitation  of  the  possessions  of  the  several  tribes 
must  have  been  taken  from  the  report  of  the  men  that 
were  sent  to  survey  the  country,  but  it  is  not  a  complete 
record.  There  are  other  traces  of  different  documents 
in  other  parts  of  the  book,  but  any  diversities  between 
them  are  quite  insignificant,  and  in  no  degree  impair 
its  historical  trustworthiness. 

As  to  the  hand  of  a  reviser  or  revisers  in  the  book, 
we  see  no  difficulty  in  allowing  for  such.  We  can 
conceive  an  authorized  reviser  expanding  speeches,  but 
thoroughly  in  the  line  of  the  speakers,  or  inserting 
explanatory  remarks  as  to  places,  or  as  to  practices 
that  had  prevailed  "unto  this  day."  But  it  is  atrocious 
to  be  told  of  revisers  colouring  statements  and  modify- 
ing facts  in  the  interests  of  religious  parties,  or  even 
in  the  interest  of  truth  itself  Any  alterations  in  the 
way  of  revision  seem  to  have  been  very  limited,  other- 
wise we  should  not  find  in  the  existing  text  those 
awkward  joinings  of  different  documents  which  are 
not  in  perfect  accord.  Whoever  the  revisers  were, 
they  seem  to  have  judged  it  best  to  leave  these  things 


20  THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 

as  they  found  them,  rather  than  incur  the  responsibility 
of  altering  what  had  already  been  written. 

It  has  generally  been  assumed  by  spiritual  expositors 
that  there  must  be  something  profoundl}^  sj^mbolical 
in  a  book  that  n<arrates  the  work  of  Joshua,  or  Jesus, 
the  first,  so  far  as  we  know,  to  bear  the  name  that  is 
^' above  every  name."  The  subject  is  considered  with 
some  fulness  m  Pearson's  '*  Exposition  of  the  Creed," 
and  various  points  of  resemblance,  not  all  equally  valid,^ 
are  noted  between  Joshua  and  Jesus. 

The  one  point  of  resemblance  on  which  we  seem 
to  be  warranted  to  lay  much  stress  is,  that  Joshua 
gave  the  people  rest.  Again  and  again  we  read — 
"The  land  rested  from  war"  (xi.  23),  ''The  land 
had  rest  from  war"  (xiv.  15),  "The  Lord  gave  them 
rest  round  about "  (xxi.  44),  "  The  Lord  your  God 
hath  given  rest  unto  your  brethren "  (xxii.  4),  "  The 
Lord  had  given  rest  unto  Israel  from  all  their  enemies 
round  about "  (xxiii.  i).  That  was  Joshua's  great 
achievement,  as  the  instrument  of  God's  purpose.     Yet 

^  "  The  hand  of  Moses  and  Aaron  brought  the  people  out  of 
Egypt,  but  left  them  in  the  wilderness,  and  could  not  seat  them  in 
Canaan.  .  .  .  Joshua,  the  successor,  only  could  effect  that  in  which 
Moses  failed.  .  .  .  The  death  of  Moses  and  the  succession  of  Joshua 
pre-signified  the  continuance  of  the  law  till  Jesus  came.  .  .  .  Moses 
must  die  that  Joshua  might  succeed.  ...  If  we  look  on  Joshua  as 
the  judge  and  ruler  of  Israel,  there  is  scarce  an  action  which  is  not 
predictive  of  our  Saviour.  He  begins  his  office  at  the  banks  of  the 
Jordan  where  Christ  is  baptized,  and  enters  upon  the  public  exercise 
of  his  prophetical  office.  He  chooseth  there  twelve  men  out  of  the 
people  to  carry  twelve  stones  over  with  them  ;  as  our  Jesus  thence 
began  to  choose  His  twelve  apostles.  ...  It  hath  been  observed  that 
the  saving  Rahab  the  harlot  alive  foretold  what  Jesus  once  should 
speak  to  the  Jews — '  Verily  I  say  unto  you,  that  the  publicans  and 
the  harlots  go  into  the  kingdom  of  God  before  you.'  ..." 


INTRODUCTORY,  2i 


in  Hebrews  we  read  that  this  was  not  the  real  rest — it 
was  only  a  symbol  of  it  :  *'  If  Joshua  had  given  them 
rest,   then   would   God  not  afterward  have   spoken  of 
another  day."     The  real  rest  was  the  rest  arising  from 
faith  in  Jesus  Christ.     Many  persons  look  on  Joshua 
as  a  somewhat  dry  book,  full  of  geographical  names, 
as    unsuggestive    as    they    are    hard    and    unfamiliar. 
Yet  on  every  one   of  the  places  so  named   faith  may 
see  inscribed,   as    in    letters    from    heaven,   the   sweet 
word  REST.     Each  of  these  places  became  a  home  for 
men  who  had  been  wandering  for  some  forty  3^ears  in 
a  v/aste    howling  wilderness.      At    last    they    reached 
a    spot    where    they    did    not    fear    the    long    familiar 
summons  to  ''arise  and  depart."     The  sickly  mother, 
the  consumptive  maiden,  the  paralysed  old  man  might 
rest   in   peace,  no   longer   terrified   at   the   prospect   of 
journeys  which  only  increased  their  ailments  and  aggra- 
vated their  sufferings. 

The  spiritual  lesson  of  this  book  then  is,  that  in  Jesus 
Christ  there  is  rest  for  the  pilgrim.  It  is  no  slight 
or  unevangelical  lesson.  It  is  the  echo  of  His  own 
glorious  words,  *'  Come  unto  Me,  all  ye  that  labour 
and  are  heavy  laden,  and  I  will  give  you  rest."  Who- 
soever is  weary — whether  under  the  burden  of  care,  or 
the  sense  of  guilt,  or  the  bitterness  of  disappointment, 
or  the  anguish  of  a  broken  heart,  or  the  conviction  that 
all  is  vanity — the  message  of  this  book  to  him  is, — 
''There  remaineth  a  rest  to  the  people  of  God."  Even 
now,  the  rest  of  faith  ;  and  hereafter,  that  rest  of  which 
the  voice  from  heaven  proclaimed — "  Blessed  are  the 
dead  which  die  in  the  Lord  from  henceforth  :  yea, 
saith  the  Spirit,  that  they  may  rest  from  their  labours ; 
and  their  works  do  follow  them." 


CHAPTER   11. 

JOSHUA'S  ANTECEDENTS. 

FOUR  hundred  years  is  a  long  way  to  go  back  in 
tracing  a  pedigree.  Joshua's  might  have  been 
traced  much  farther  back  than  that — back  to  Noah,  or 
for  that  matter  to  Adam  ;  but  Israehtes  usually  counted 
it  enough  to  begin  with  that  son  of  Jacob  who  was  the 
head  of  their  tribe.  It  could  be  no  small  gratification 
to  Joshua  that  he  had  Joseph  for  his  ancestor,  and  that 
of  the  two  sons  of  Joseph  he  was  sprung  from  the  one 
whom  the  dying  Jacob  so  expressly  placed  before  the 
other  as  the  heir  of  the  richer  blessing  (i  Chron. 
vii.  20-27).  It  is  remarkable  that  the  descendants  of 
Joseph  attached  no  consequence  to  the  fact  that  on  the 
side  of  Joseph's  wife  they  were  sprung  from  one  of  the 
highest  functionaries  of  Egypt  (Gen.  xli.  45),  any  more 
than  the  children  of  Mered,  of  the  tribe  of  Judah,  whose 
wife,  Bithiah,  was  a  daughter  of  Pharaoh  (i  Chron. 
iv.  18),  gained  rank  in  Israel  from  the  royal  blood  of 
their  mother.  The  glory  of  high  connections  with  the 
heathen  counted  for  nothing ;  it  was  entirely  eclipsed 
by  the  glory  of  the  chosen  seed.  To  be  of  the  house- 
hold of  God  was  higher  than  to  be  born  of  kings. 

Joshua  appears  to  have  come  of  the  principal  family 
of  the  tribe,  for  his  grandfather,  Elishama  (i  Chron. 
vii.  26),  was  captain  and  head  of  his  tribe  (Num. 
i.    10,  ii.    18),  and  in   the  order  of  march  through  the 

22 


JOSHUA'S  ANTECEDENTS.  23 

wilderness  marched  at  the  head  of  the  forty  thousand 
five  hundred  men  that  constituted  the  great  tribe  of 
Ephraim  ;  while  his  son,  Nun,  and  his  grandson,  Joshua, 
would  of  course  march  beside  him.  Not  only  was 
Elishama  at  the  head  of  the  tribe,  but  apparently  also 
of  the  whole  ''  camp  of  Ephraim,"  which,  besides  his 
own  tribe,  embraced  Manasseh  and  Benjamin,  being 
the  whole  descendants  of  Rachel  (Num.  ii.  24).  Under 
their  charge  in  all  likelihood  was  a  remarkable  relic 
that  had  been  brought  very  carefully  from  Egypt — the 
bones  of  Joseph  (Exod.  xiii.  19).  Great  must  have 
been  the  respect  paid  to  the  coffin  which  contained  the 
embalmed  body  of  the  Governor  of  Egypt,  and  which 
was  never  lost  sight  of  during  all  the  period  of  the 
wanderings,  till  at  length  it  was  solemnly  deposited  in 
its  resting-place  at  Shechem  (Josh.  xxiv.  32).  Young 
Joshua,  grandson  of  the  prince  of  the  tribe,  must  have 
known  it  well.  For  Joshua  was  himself  cast  in  the 
mould  of  Joseph,  an  ardent,  courageous,  God-fearing, 
patriotic  youth.  Very  interesting  to  him  it  must  have 
been  to  recall  the  romance  of  Joseph's  life,  his  grievous 
wrongs  and  trials,  his  gentle  spirit  under  them  all,  his 
patient  and  invincible  faith,  his  lofty  purity  and  self- 
control,  his  intense  devotion  to  duty,  and  finally  his 
marvellous  exaltation  and  blessed  experience  as  the 
saviour  of  his  brethren  !  And  that  coffin  must  have 
seemed  to  Joshua  ever  to  preach  this  sermon, — ''  God 
will  surely  visit  you."  With  Joseph,  young  Joshua 
believed  profoundly  in  his  nation,  because  he  believed 
profoundly  in  his  nation's  God  ;  he  felt  that  no  other 
people  in  the  world  could  have  such  a  destiny,  or  could 
be  so  worthy  of  the  service  of  his  life. 

This  sense  of  Israel's  relation  to  God  raised  in  him 
an  enthusiastic  patriotism,  and  soon  brought  him  under 


24  THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 

the  notice  of  Moses,  who  quickly  discerned  in  the 
grandson  a  spirit  more  congenial  to  his  own  than  that 
of  either  the  father  or  the  grandfather.  Not  even 
Moses  himself  had  a  warmer  love  than  Joshua  for 
Israel,  or  a  more  ardent  desire  to  serve  the  people  that 
had  such  a  blessed  destiny.  In  all  likelihood  the  first 
impression  Joshua  made  on  Moses  might  have  been 
described  in  the  words — ^'  It  came  to  pass  that  the  soul 
of  Moses  was  knit  with  the  soul  of  Joshua,  and  Moses 
loved  him  as  his  own  soul." 

In  no  other  way  can  we  account  for  the  extraordinary 
mark  of  confidence  with  which  Joshua  was  honoured 
when  he  was  selected  in  the  early  da3^s  of  the  wilder- 
ness sojourn,  not  only  to  repel  the  attack  which  the 
Amalekites  had  made  upon  Israel,  but  to  choose  the 
men  by  whom  this  was  to  be  done.  Why  pass  over 
father  and  grandfather,  if  this  youth,  Joshua,  had  not 
already  displayed  qualities  that  fitted  him  for  this 
difficult  task  better  than  either  of  them  ?  We  cannot 
but  note,  in  passing,  the  proof  we  have  of  the  contem- 
poraneousness of  the  history,  that  no  mention  is  made 
of  the  reasons  why  Joshua  of  all  men  was  appointed 
to  this  command.  If  the  history  was  written  near  the 
time,  with  Joshua's  splendid  career  fresh  in  the  minds 
of  the  people,  the  reasons  would  be  notorious  and  did 
not  need  to  be  given  ;  if  it  was  written  long  afterwards, 
what  more  natural  than  that  something  should  be  said 
to  explain  the  remarkable  choice  ? 

On  whatever  grounds  Joshua  was  appointed,  the 
result  amply  vindicated  the  selection.  On  Joshua's 
part  there  is  none  of  that  hesitation  in  accepting  his 
work  which  was  shown  even  by  Moses  himself  when 
he  got  his  commission  at  the  burning  bush.  He  seems 
to  have  accepted  the  appointment  with  humble   faith 


JOSHUA'S  ANTECEDENTS.  25 

and  spirited  enthusiasm,  and  prepared  at  once  for  the 
perilous  enterprise. 

And  he  had  little  enough  time  to  prepare,  for  a  new 
attack  of  the  Amalekites  was  to  be  made  next  day. 
We  may  conceive  him,  after  prayer  to  his  Lord,  setting 
out  with  a  few  chosen  comrades  to  invite  volunteers  to 
join  his  corps,  rousing  their  enthusiasm  by  picturing 
the  dastardly  attack  that  the  Amalekites  had  made  on 
the  sick  and  infirm  (Deut.  xxv.  17,  18),  and  scattering 
their  fears  by  recalling  the  promise  to  Abraham,  *'  I 
will  bless  them  that  bless  thee,  and  curse  him  that 
curseth  thee."  That  Moses  knew  him  to  be  a  man  of 
faith  whose  trust  was  in  the  living  God  was  shown  by 
his  promise  to  stand  next  morning  on  the  hill  top  with 
the  rod  of  God  in  his  hand.  Yes,  the  rod  of  God  ! 
Had  not  Joshua  seen  it  stretched  out  over  the  Red 
Sea,  first  to  make  a  passage  for  Israel,  and  thereafter 
to  bring  back  the  waters  on  Pharaoh's  host  ?  Was  he 
not  just  the  man  to  value  aright  that  symbol  of  Divine 
power  ?  The  troop  selected  by  Joshua  may  have  been 
small  as  the  band  of  Gideon,  but  if  it  was  as  full  of 
faith  and  courage  it  was  abundantly  able  for  its  work  1 

The  Amalekites  are  sometimes  supposed  to  have 
been  descendants  of  an  Amalek  who  was  the  grandson 
of  Esau  (Gen.  xxxvi.  1 2),  but  the  name  is  much  older 
(Gen.  xiv.  7),  and  was  applied  at  an  early  period  to 
the  inhabitants  of  the  tract  of  country  stretching 
southwards  from,  the  Dead  Sea  to  the  peninsula  of 
Sinai.  Whatever  may  have  been  their  origin,  they 
were  old  inhabitants  of  the  wilderness,  well  acquainted 
probably  with  every  mountain  and  valley,  and  well 
skilled  in  that  Bedouin  style  of  warfare  which  even 
practised  troops  are  little  able  to  meet.  They  were 
therefore  very  formidable  opponents  to  the  raw  levy  of 


26  THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 


Israelites,  who  could  be  but  little  acquainted  with  wea- 
pons of  war,  and  were  wholly  unaccustomed  to  battle. 

The  Amalekites  could  not  have  been  ignorant  of  the 
advantage  of  a  good  position,  and  they  probably  occu- 
pied a  post  not  easy  to  attack  and  carr}^  Evidently 
the  battle  was  a  serious  one.  The  practised  and  skilful 
>/  tactics  of  the  Amalekites  were  more  than  a  match  for 
the  youthful  valour  of  Joshua  and  his  comrades ;  but 
as  often  as  the  uplifted  rod  of  Moses  was  seen  on  the 
top  of  the  neighbouring  hill,  new  life  and  courage 
rushed  into  the  souls  of  the  Israelites,  and  for  the  time 
the  Amalekites  retreated  before  them.  Hour  after  hour 
the  battle  raged,  till  the  arm  of  Moses  became  too 
weary  to  hold  up  the  rod.  A  stone  had  to  be  found 
for  him  to  sit  on,  and  his  comrades,  Aaron  and  Hur, 
had  to  hold  up  his  hands.  But  even  then,  though  the 
advantage  was  on  the  side  of  Joshua,  it  was  sunset 
before  Amalek  was  thoroughly  defeated.  The  issue 
of  the  battle  was  no  longer  doubtful — '^Joshua  dis- 
comfited Amalek  and  his  people  with  the  edge  of  the 
sword  "  (Exod.  xvii.  1 3). 

It  was  a  memorable  victory,  due  in  effect  to  the  hand 
of  God  as  really  as  the  destruction  of  the  Egyptians 
had  been,  but  due  instrumentally  to  the  faith  and 
fortitude  of  Joshua  and  his  troop,  whose  ardour  could 
not  be  quenched  by  the  ever-resumed  onslaughts  of 
Amalek.  And  when  the  fight  was  over,  Joshua  could 
not  but  be  the  hero  of  the  camp  and  the  nation,  as 
really  as  David  after  the  combat  with  Goliath.  Con- 
gratulations must  have  poured  on  him  from  every 
quarter,  and  not  only  on  him,  but  on  his  father  and 
grandfather  as  well.  To  Joshua  these  would  come 
with  mingled  feelings ;  gratification  at  having  been 
able  to  do  such  a  service  for  his  people,  and  gratitude 


JOSHUA'S  ANTECEDENTS.  27 

for  the  presence  of  Him  by  whom  alone  he  had 
prevailed.  ^'  Not  unto  us,  Lord,  not  unto  us,  but  to 
Thy  name  be  the  glory."  It  was  a  splendid  beginning 
for  Israel's  wilderness  history,  if  only  it  had  been 
followed  up  by  the  people  in  a  kindred  spirit.  But 
there  were  not  many  Joshuas  in  the  camp,  and  the 
spirit  did  not  spread. 

It  is  remarkable  what  a  hold  that  incident  at  Rephidim 
has  taken  on  the  Christian  imagination.  Age  after  age, 
for  more  than  three  thousand  years,  its  influence  has 
been  felt.  Nor  can  it  ever  cease  to  impress  believing 
men  that,  so  long  as  Moses  holds  out  his  rod,  so  long 
as  active  trust  is  placed  in  the  power  and  presence  of 
the  Most  High  in  the  great  battle  with  sin  and  evil, 
Israel  must  prevail ;  but  if  this  trust  should  fail,  i^ 
Moses  should  let  down  his  rod,  Amalek  will  conquer. 
It  was  well  that  Moses  was  instructed  to  write  the 
transaction  in  a  book  and  rehearse  it  before  Joshua. 
Well  also  that  it  should  be  commemorated  by  another 
memorial,  an  altar  to  the  Lord  with  the  name  of 
''  Jehovah-nissi,"  the  Lord  my  banner.  How  often 
has  faith  looked  out  towards  that  unknown  mountain 
where  Aaron  and  Hur  held  up  the  weary  arms  of 
Moses,  and  what  a  new  thrill  of  courage  and  hope  has 
the  spectacle  sent  through  hearts  often  **  faint  yet  pur- 
suing "  !  Happily  on  Joshua  the  effect  was  wholesome  ; 
a  less  spiritual  man  would  have  been  puffed  up  by  his 
remarkable  victory ;  but  in  him  its  only  effect,  as  was 
shown  by  the  whole  tenor  of  his  future  life,  was  a 
firmer  trust  in  God,  and  a  deeper  determination  to 
wait  only  on  Him. 

It  was  no  wonder  that  after  this  Joshua  was  selected 
by  Moses  to  be  his  personal  comrade  and  attendant  in 
connection  with  that  most  solemn  of  all  his  duties — the 


28  THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 

receiving  of  the  law  on  the  top  of  the  mount.  Here 
again  was  a  most  distinguished  honour  for  so  young  a 
man.  Aaron,  Nadab,  and  Abihu,  with  seventy  of  the 
elders,  were  summoned  to  ascend  to  a  certain  height  and 
worship  afar  off;  while  Moses,  accompanied  by  Joshua, 
went  up  into  the  mount  of  God  (Exod.  xxiv.  13). 
What  became  of  Joshua  while  Moses  was  in  immediate 
fellowship  with  God  is  not  very  apparent.  The  first 
impression  we  derive  from  the  narrative  is  that  he  was 
with  Moses  all  the  time,  for  when  Moses  begins  his 
descent  Joshua  is  at  his  side  (Exod.  xxxii.  17).  Yet  we 
cannot  suppose  that  in  that  most  solemn  transaction 
of  Moses  v/ith  Jehovah  when  the  law  was  given  any 
third  party  was  present.  On  a  careful  study  of  the 
narrative  throughout  it  will  probably  be  seen  that 
when,  after  going  up  a  certain  distance  in  company 
with  Aaron  and  his  sons  and  the  seventy  elders,  Moses 
was  called  to  a  higher  part  of  the  mount,  Joshua  accom- 
panied Moses  (Exod.  xxiv.  13),  and  that  he  was  with 
Moses  during  the  six  days  when  the  glory  of  God 
abode  on  Mount  Sinai  and  a  cloud  covered  the  mount 
(ver.  15)  ;  but  that  when  God  again,  after  these  six  days, 
called  to  Moses  to  ascend  still  higher,  and  Moses  ''  went 
into  the  midst  of  the  cloud,  and  gat  him  up  to  the 
mount"  (ver.  18),  Joshua  remained  behind.  His  place 
of  rest  would  thus  be  half-way  between  the  spot  where 
the  elders  saw  God's  glory  and  the  summit  where  God 
talked  with  Moses.  But  the  remarkable  thing  is,  that 
from  that  place  Joshua  would  seem  never  to  have 
moved  all  the  forty  days  and  forty  nights  when  Moses 
was  with  God.  We  can  hardly  conceive  a  case  of 
more  remarkable  obedience,  a  more  striking  instance 
of  the  quiet  waiting  of  faith.  To  a  youth  of  his  spirit 
and    habits    the    restraint   must    have  been    somewhat 


JOSHUA'S  ANTECEDENTS.  29 

trying.     We    know   that   Aaron  did   not  remain   long 
on    the    hill,    for    he   was   at    hand    when    the   people 
cried  for  ^^gods  to  go  before  them"  (Exod.  xxxii.  i). 
Impatience  of  God's  slow  methods  had  been  a  snare 
to  the  fathers — to  Abraham  and  Sarah  in  the  matter  of 
Hagar ;  to  Rachel  when   she  raised  the  petulant  cry, 
"  Give  me  children,  or  else  I  die  " ;  to  Jacob  when  the 
promises  seemed   broken   to  atoms,  and  ''  all   things " 
seemed  '' against   him."     Joseph  alone   had  stood   the 
trial  of  patience,  and  now  Joshua  showed  himself  of 
the  like  spirit.     The  word  of  Moses  to  him  was  like  an 
anchor  holding  the   ship   firmly  against   the    force    of 
wind  and  tide.     What  a  solemn  time  it  must  have  been, 
and  what  a  precious  lesson  it  must  have  taught  him  for 
the  whole  future  of  his  life  1 

More  than   three  thousand   years   have  sped  away, 
but  have  the  servants  of  God  on  an  average  reached  the 
measure   of  Joshua's  patience  ?     Prayers  unanswered, 
promises  unfulfilled,  sickness  protracted  during  weary 
years   of  pain,   disappointments  and   trials   coming  in 
troops  as  if  all  God's  waves  and  billows  were  passing 
over  them,  active  persecution  bringing  all  the  devices 
of  torture  to  bear  upon  them, — how  have  such  things 
tried  the  patience,  the  waiting  power  of  the  servants 
of  God  I     But  let  them  remember  that  if  the  trial  be 
severe  the  recompense   is   great,  and  that  in  the  end 
nothing  will  grieve  them  more  than  to  have  distrusted 
their  master  and  thought  it  possible  that  His  promises 
v/ould    fail.       ''  God    is    not    unrighteous    to    forget." 
Richard  Cecil  tells  that  once,  when  walking  with  his 
little    son,    he    bade    him    wait    for    him    at    a    certain 
gate  till  he  should  return.      He  thought  he  would  be 
back  in  a  few  minutes,  but  meanwhile  an  'unexpected 
occurrence  constrained  him  to  go  into  the  city,  where. 


THE  BOOK   OF  JOSHUA. 


under  an  engrossing  piece  of  business,  he  remained  all 
day  utterly  forgetful  of  his  charge  to  the  boy.  On  his 
return  at  night  to  his  suburban  home,  the  boy  was  no- 
where to  be  found.  In  a  moment  the  order  to  remain 
at  the  gate  flashed  on  his  father's  memory.  Was  it 
possible  he  should  still  be  there  ?  He  hurried  back 
and  found  him — he  had  been  told  to  wait  till  his  father 
returned,  and  he  had  done  as  he  had  been  told.  The 
boy  that  could  act  thus  must  have  been  made  of  no 
common  stuff  So  are  they  who  can  say,  '*  I  waited 
patiently  for  the  Lord,  and  He  inclined  unto  me,  and 
heard  my  cry." 

At  last  Joshua  rejoins  his  master,  and  they  proceed 
towards  the  foot  of  the  mount.  As  they  approach  the 
camp,  a  noise  is  heard  from  afar.  His  military  instinct 
finds  an  explanation, — ''  There  is  a  noise  of  war  in  the 
camp."  No,  says  the  more  experienced  Moses ;  it  is 
neither  the  shout  of  victors  nor  of  vanquished,  it  is  the 
noise  of  singing  I  hear ;  and  so  it  was.  For  when 
they  reached  the  camp,  the  people  were  at  the  very 
height  of  the  idolatrous  revelling  that  followed  the  con- 
struction and  worship  of  the  golden  calf,  and  the  sounds 
that  fell  on  the  ears  of  Moses  and  Joshua  were  the 
bacchanalian  shouts  of  unholy  and  shameful  riot.  What 
a  contrast  to  the  solemn  and  holy  scene  on  the  top  I 
What  a  gulf  lies  between  the  holy  will  of  God  and  the 
polluted  passions  of  men  ! 

During  the  painful  scenes  that  ensued,  Joshua  con- 
tinued in  faithful  attendance  on  Moses ;  and  when 
Moses  removed  the  tabernacle  (the  temporary  structure 
hitherto  used  for  sacred  services)  and  placed  it  outside 
the  camp,  Joshua  was  with  him,  and  departed  not  out 
of  the  tabernacle  (Exod.  xxxiii.  ii).  We  are  not  told 
whether  he  ascended  the  mount  the  second  time  with 


JOSHUA'S  ANTECEDENTS.  31 

Moses,  but  it  is  likely  that  he  did.  At  all  events  he 
was  much  with  Moses  at  this  early  and  susceptible 
period  of  his  life.  The  young  man  did  not  recoil  from 
the  company  of  the  old,  nor  did  he  who  had  been  com- 
mander in  the  battle  of  Rephidim  shrink  from  the  duty 
of  a  servant.  Deeper  and  deeper,  as  he  kept  company 
with  Moses,  must  have  been  his  impression  of  his 
wisdom,  his  faith,  his  loyalty  to  God,  and  his  entire 
devotion  to  the  welfare  of  his  people  ;  and  stronger  and 
stronger  must  have  waxed  his  own  desire  that  if  ever 
he  should  be  called  to  a  similar  service  he  might  show 
the  same  spirit  and  fulfil  the  same  high  end  ! 

The  next  time  that  Joshua  comes  into  notice  is  not 
so  flattering  to  himself.  It  is  on  that  occasion  when 
the  Spirit  descended  on  the  seventy  elders  that  had 
been  appointed  to  assist  Moses,  and  they  prophesied 
round  about  the  tabernacle.  Two  of  the  seventy  were 
not  with  the  rest,  but  nevertheless  they  got  the  spirit 
and  were  prophesying  in  the  camp.  The  military 
instinct  of  Joshua  was  hurt  at  the  irregularity,  and  his 
concern  for  the  honour  of  Moses  was  roused  by  their 
apparent  indifference  to  the  presence  of  their  head. 
He  hurried  to  inform  Moses,  not  doubting  but  he  would 
interfere  to  correct  the  irregularity.  But  the  narrow 
spirit  of  youth  met  with  a  memorable  rebuke  from  the 
larger  and  more  noble  spirit  of  the  leader, — ''  Enviest 
thou  for  my  sake  ?  Would  God  that  all  the  Lord's 
people  were  prophets,  and  that  the  Lord  would  put  His 
Spirit  upon  them  !  " 

Not  long  after  this  Joshua  was  appointed  to  another 
memorable  service.  After  the  law-giving  had  been 
brought  to  an  end,  and  the  host  of  Israel  had  removed 
from  the  mountain  to  the  borders  of  the  promised 
land,   he   was  appointed  one  of  the  twelve  spies   that 


THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 


were  sent  forward  to  explore  the  country.  Formerly 
his  name  had  been  Oshea ;  it  was  now  changed  to 
Jehoshua  or  Joshua.  The  changing  of  the  name  was 
in  itself  significant,  and  still  more  the  character  of  the 
change,  by  which  a  syllable  of  the  Divine  name  was 
inserted  in  it.  For,  by  the  practice  of  the  nation,  the 
changing  of  a  name  denoted  a  man's  entrance  on  a  new 
chapter  of  his  history,  or  his  coming  out  before  the 
world  in  a  new  character.  So  it  was  when  Abram's 
name  was  changed  to  Abraham,  Sarai's  to  Sarah,  and 
Jacob's  to  Israel ;  so  also  when  Simon  became  Cephas, 
and  Saul  Paul.  But  the  new  name  given  to  Joshua  was 
in  itself  more  remarkable — Joshua,  that  is,  Jehovah 
saves :  in  the  New  Testament,  Jesus.  No  doubt  it 
looked  back  on  the  victory  of  Rephidim  when  the  Lord 
wrought  such  a  deliverance  in  Israel  through  Joshua. 
But  it  indicated  that  the  feature  that  had  appeared  at 
Rephidim  would  continue  to  characterise  him  during  his 
life.  It  was  a  testimony  from  Moses,  and  from  Him  who 
inspired  Moses,  to  the  character  of  Joshua,  as  it  had 
come  out  during  all  the  close  intercourse  of  Moses  with 
him.  And  it  invested  Joshua  with  a  dignity  that  ought 
to  have  raised  him  very  highly  in  the  eyes  of  the  other 
spies,  and  of  all  the  congregation  of  Israel.  Who  could 
be  more  worthy  of  their  respect  than  the  young  man 
who  had  shown  himself  so  faithful  in  all  his  previous 
history,  and  who  had  now  received  a  name  that  indicated 
that  it  would  be  the  distinction  of  his  life,  like  Him 
whom  he  prefigured,  to  lead  his  people  to  the  enjoy- 
ment of  God's  salvation  ? 

The  forty  days  spent  by  the  twelve  men  in  exploring 
the  land  were  a  great  contrast  to  the  forty  da3^s  spent 
by  Joshua  on  the  mount.  All  was  inactivity  and 
patient  waiting  in  the  one  case ;  all  was  activity  and 


JOSHUA'S  ANTECEDENTS.  33 

bustle  in  the  other.  For  there  is  a  time  to  work  and 
a  time  to  rest.  If  at  the  one  period  Joshua  had  to 
put  a  restraint  on  his  natural  activity,  at  the  other  he 
could  give  it  full  swing. 

Apart  from  its  more  immediate  object,  this  early  tour 
through  Palestine  must  have  been  one  of  surpassing 
interest.  To  witness  each  spot  that  had  been  made 
memorable  and  classical  by  the  lives  of  his  forefathers ; 
to  sit  by  the  well  of  Beersheba,  and  recall  all  that  had 
happened  there ;  to  repose  under  Abraham's  oak  at 
Mamre  ;  to  bow  at  the  cave  of  Machpelah  ;  to  recall  the 
visits  of  angels  at  Bethel,  and  the  ladder  which  had 
been  seen  going  up  to  heaven, — was  not  only  most 
thriUing,  but  to  a  man  of  Joshua's  faith  most  inspiring ; 
because  every  spot  that  had  such  associations  was  a 
vdtness  that  God  had  given  them  the  land,  and  a  proof 
that  even  though  the  sons  of  Anak  were  there,  and 
their  cities  were  walled  up  to  heaven,  the  God  of 
Abraham  and  Isaac  and  Jacob  would  be  faithful  to 
His  promise,  and,  if  the  people  would  only  trust  Him, 
would  right  speedily  place  them  in  full  possession. 

Caleb  and  Joshua  were  the  only  two  men  whose 
faith  stood  the  test  of  this  survey;  the  rest  were 
thoroughly  cowed  by  the  greatness  of  the  difficulties. 
And  Caleb  seems  to  have  been  the  foremost  of  the  two, 
for  in  some  places  he  is  named  as  if  he  stood  alone. 
Probably  he  was  the  one  who  came  forward  and  spoke  ; 
but  even  if  Joshua's  faith  was  not  so  strong  at  first, 
it  was  no  dishonour  to  be  indebted  to  the  greater 
courage  and  confidence  of  his  brother. 

We  can  hardly  doubt  that  in  their  long  marches  and 
quiet  encampments  the  twelve  men  had  many  a  dis- 
cussion as  to  what  they  would  advise,  and  that  the  ten 
felt  themselves  beaten  both  in  argument  and  in  faith 

3 


34  THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 

by  the  two.  Long  before  they  returned  to  the  camp  of 
Israel  they  had  taken  their  sides,  and  by  the  sides  they 
had  taken  they  were  determined  to  abide. 

When  they  come  back,  the  ten  open  the  business  and 
give  their  decided  judgment  against  any  attempt  to  take 
possession  of  the  land.  Impatient  of  their  misrepresen- 
tations, Caleb  perhaps  strikes  in,  repudiates  the  notion 
that  the  people  are  not  able  to  take  possession,  and  urges 
them  in  God's  name  to  go  up  at  once.  But  it  is  easier 
far  to  stir  up  discontent  and  fear  than  to  stimulate  faith. 
The  cry  of  the  congregation,  ^'  Up,  make  us  a  captain, 
and  let  us  return  to  Egypt,"  shows  how  strongly  the 
tide  of  unbelief  is  flowing.  Moses  and  Aaron  are  over- 
whelmed. The  two  leaders  fall  on  their  faces  before 
the  congregation.  But  neither  the  cry  of  the  congrega- 
tion nor  the  attitude  of  Moses  and  Aaron  daunts  the 
two  faithful  spies.  With  clothes  rent  they  rush  in, 
renewing  their  commendations  of  the  land,  laying  hold 
of  the  Almighty  Protector,  and  scorning  the  opposition 
of  the  inhabitants,  whose  -hearts  were  cowed  with  terror 
and  whose  defence  was  departed  from  them.  It  was  a 
fine  spectacle, — the  two  against  the  million — the  little 
remnant  ''faithful  found  among  the  faithless."  But  it 
was  all  in  vain.  ''  All  the  congregation  bade  stone 
them  with  stones."  And  in  their  impulsive  and  excit- 
able temper  the  horrible  cry  would  have  been  obeyed 
had  not  the  glory  of  the  Lord  shone  out  and  arrested 
the  infatuated  people  (Num.  xiv.  lo). 

For  this  shameless  sin  the  penalty  was  very  heavy. 
The  congregation  were  to  wander  in  the  wilderness  for 
forty  years  till  all  that  generation  should  die  off ;  the 
ten  unfaithful  spies  were  to  die  at  once  of  a  plague  before 
the  Lord ;  and  not  one  of  the  generation  that  left 
Egypt  was  to  enter  the  promised  land.     How  easily  can 


JOSHUA  '5  A  NTECEDENTS. 


God  defeat  the  purposes  of  man  I  Where  is  now  the 
proposal  to  make  a  captain  and  return  to  Egypt  ? 
^'  How  art  thou  fallen  from  heaven,  O  Lucifer,  son  of 
the  morning  !  " 

Joshua  and  Caleb  are  doubly  honoured  ;  their  lives 
are  preserved  when  the  other  ten  die  of  the  plague  ; 
and  they  alone,  of  all  the  grown  men  of  that  genera- 
tion, are  to  be  allowed  to  enter  and  obtain  homes  in  the 
land  of  promise. 

For  eight-and-thirty  years  we  hear  nothing  more  of 
Joshua.  Like  Moses,  he  has  an  interesting  youth, 
then  a  long  burial  in  the  wilderness,  and  then  he 
emerges  from  his  obscurity  and  does  a  great  work, 
second  only  to  that  of  Moses  himself  The  first  men- 
tion of  him  after  his  long  eclipse  is  immediately  before 
the  death  of  Moses.  God  virtually  appoints  him  to  be 
his  successor,  and  directs  both  of  them  to  present  them- 
selves in  the  tabernacle  of  the  congregation  (Deut. 
xxxi.  14).  And  Moses  calls  him  to  his  office,  gives 
him  a  charge  and  says,  "  Be  strong  and  of  a  good 
courage  :  for  thou  shalt  bring  the  children  of  Israel 
into  the  land  which  I  sware  unto  them  :  and  I  will  be 
with  thee  "  (Deut.  xxxi.  23). 

We  might  earnestly  desire,  in  entering  on  the  study 
of  Joshua's  life,  to  draw  aside  the  veil  that  covers  the 
eight-and-thirty  years,  and  see  how  he  was  further 
prepared  for  his  great  work.  We  might  like  to  look 
into  his  heart,  and  see  after  what  fashion  this  man  was 
made  to  whom  the  destruction  of  the  Canaanites  was 
entrusted.  A  religious  warrior  is  a  peculiar  character ; 
a  Gustavus  Adolphus,  an  Oliver  Cromwell,  a  Henry 
Havelock,  a  General  Gordon  ;  Joshua  was  of  the  same 
mould,  and  we  should  have  liked  to  know  him  more 


36  THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 


intimately ;  but  this  is  denied  to  us.  He  stands  out  to 
us  simply  as  one  of  the  military  heroes  of  the  faith. 
In  depth,  in  steadiness,  in  endurance,  his  faith  was 
not  excelled  by  that  of  Abraham  or  of  Moses  himself 
The  one  conviction  that  dominated  all  in  him  was,  that 
he  was  called  by  God  to  his  work.  If  that  work  was 
often  repulsive,  let  us  not  on  that  account  withhold  our 
admiration  from  the  man  who  never  conferred  with  flesh 
and  blood,  and  who  was  never  appalled  either  by  danger 
or  difficult}',  for  he  ''saw  Him  who  is  invisible." 


CHAPTER    III. 

A   SUCCESSOR    TO  MOSES. 
Joshua  i.  2, 

THERE  are  some  men  to  whom  it  is  almost  impos- 
sible to  find  successors.  Men  of  imperial  mould  ; 
Nature's  primates,  head  and  shoulders  above  other  men, 
born  to  take  the  lead.  Not  only  possessed  of  great 
gifts  originally,  but  placed  by  Providence  in  situations 
that  have  wonderfully  expanded  their  capacity  and  made 
their  five  talents  ten.  Called  to  be  leaders  of  great 
movements,  champions  of  commanding  interests,  often 
gifted  with  an  imposing  presence,  and  with  a  magnetic 
power  that  subdues  opposition  and  kindles  enthusiasm 
as  if  by  magic.  What  a  bereavement  when  such  men 
are  suddenly  removed  !  How  poor  in  comparison  those 
who  come  next  them,  and  from  among  whom  successors 
have  to  be  chosen  I  When  the  Hebrews  mourned  the 
death  of  Samson,  the  difference  in  physical  strength 
between  him  and  his  brethren  could  not  have  appeared 
greater  than  the  intellectual  and  moral  gulf  appears 
between  a  great  king  of  men,  suddenly  removed,  and 
the  bereaved  children  that  bend  helpless  over  his  grave. 
A  feeling  of  this  sort  must  have  spread  itself  through 
the  host  of  Israel  when  it  was  known  that  Moses  was 
dead.  Speculation  as  to  his  successor  there  could  be 
none,  for  not  only  had  God  designated  Joshua,  but 
before  he  died  Moses  had  laid  his  hands  upon  him,  and 

37 


38  THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 

the  people  had  acknowledged  him  as  their  coming 
leader.  And  Joshua  had  already  achieved  a  record  of 
no  common  order,  and  had  been  favoured  with  high 
tokens  of  the  Divine  approval.  Yet  what  a  descent  it 
must  have  seemed  from  Moses  to  Joshua  I  From  the 
man  who  had  so  often  been  face  to  face  with  God,  who 
had  commanded  the  sea  to  make  a  way  for  the  redeemed 
of  the  Lord  to  pass  over,  who  had  been  their  legislator 
and  their  judge  ever  since  they  were  children,  to  whom 
they  had  gone  in  every  difficulty,  and  who  for  wisdom 
and  disinterestedness  had  gained  the  profound  confi- 
dence of  every  one  of  them  ; — what  a  descent,  we  say, 
to  this  son  of  Nun,  known  hitherto  as  but  the  servant 
of  Moses — an  intrepid  soldier,  no  doubt,  and  a  man  of 
unfaltering  faith,  but  whose  name  seemed  as  if  it  could 
not  couple  with  that  of  their  imperial  leader ! 

Well  though  Joshua  did  his  work  in  after  life,  and 
bright  though  the  lustre  of  his  name  ultimately  became, 
he  never  attained  to  the  rank  of  Moses.  While  the, 
name  of  Moses  is  constantly  reappearing  in  the  pro- 
phets, in  the  psalms,  in  the  gospels,  in  the  epistles,  and 
in  the  apocalypse,  that  of  Joshua  is  not  found  out  of 
the  historical  books  except  in  the  speech  of  Stephen 
and  that  well-known  passage  in  the  Hebrews  (iv.  8), 
where  the  received  version  perplexes  us  by  translating 
it  Jesus.  But  it  was  no  disparagement  of  him  that  he 
was  so  far  surpassed  by  the  man  to  whom,  under  God, 
the  very  existence  of  the  nation  was  due.  And  in  some 
respects,  Joshua  is  a  more  useful  example  to  us  than 
Moses.  Moses  seems  to  stand  half-way  in  heaven, 
almost  beyond  reach  of  imitation.  Joshua  is  more  on 
our  own  level.  If  not  a  man  of  surpassing  genius,  he 
commends  himself  as  having  made  the  best  possible 
use  of  his  talents,  and  done  his  part  carefully  and  well. 


i.2.J  A   SUCCESSOR   TO  MOSES.  39 

The  remark  has  been  made  that  eras  of  great  creative 
vigour  are  often  succeeded  by  periods  dull  and  common 
place.  The  history  of  letters  and  of  the  fine  arts  shows 
that  bursts  of  artistic  splendour  like  the  'Renaissance, 
or  of  literary  originality  like  the  Augustan  age  in 
Roman  or  the  Elizabethan  in  English  literature,  are  not 
followed  by  periods  of  equal  lustre.  And  the  same 
phenomenon  has  often  been  found  in  the  Christian 
Church.  In  more  senses  than  one  the  Apostles  had 
no  successors.  Who  in  all  the  sub-apostolic  age  was 
worthy  even  to  untie  the  latchet  of  Peter,  or  John,  or 
Paul  ?  The  inferiority  is  so  manifest  that  had  there 
been  nothing  else  to  guide  the  Church  in  framing  the 
canon  of  the  New  Testament,  the  difference  between 
the  writings  of  the  Apostles  and  their  companions  on 
the  one  hand,  and  of  men  like  Barnabas,  Clement  of 
Rome,  Polycarp,  Ignatius,  and  Hermes  on  the  other, 
would  have  sufficed  to  settle  the  question.  So  also  at 
the  era  of  the  Reformation.  Hardly  a  country  but  had 
its  star  or  its  galaxy  o-f  the  first  magnitude.  Luther 
and  Melancthon,  Calvin  and  Coligny,  Farel  and  Viret, 
John  a-Lasco  and  John  Knox,  Latimer  and  Cranmer, — 
what  incomparable  men  they  were  !  But  in  the  age  that 
followed  what  names  can  we  find  to  couple  with  theirs  ? 

Of  other  sections  of  the  Church  the  same  remark  has 
been  made,  and  sometimes  it  has  been  turned  to  an 
unfair  use.  If  in  the  second  generation,  after  a  great 
outburst  of  power  and  grace,  there  are  few  or  no  men 
of  equal  calibre,  it  does  not  follow  that  the  glory  has 
departed,  and  that  the  Church  is  to  droop  her  head, 
and  wonder  to  what  unworthy  course  on  her  part  the 
degeneracy  is  to  be  ascribed.  We  are  not  to  expect 
in  such  a  case  that  the  laws  of  nature  will  be  set  aside 
to  gratif}^  our  pride.     We  are  to  recognise  a  state  of 


40  THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 

things  which  God  has  ordained  for  wise  purposes, 
although  it  may  not  be  flattering  to  us.  We  are  to 
place  ourselves  in  the  attitude  in  which  Joshua  was 
called  to  place  himself  when  the  curt  announcement  of 
the  text  as  to  Moses  was  followed  by  an  equally  curt 
order  to  him — '^  Moses  My  servant  is  dead  ;  now^  there- 
fore arise." 

The  question  for  Joshua  is  not  whether  he  is  a  fit 
person  to  succeed  Moses.  His  mental  exercise  is  not 
to  compare  himself  with  Moses,  and  note  the  innumer- 
able points  of  inferiority  on  every  side.  His  attitude 
is  not  to  bow  down  his  head  like  a  bulrush,  mourning 
over  the  departed  glory  of  Israel,  grieving  for  the 
mighty  dead,  on  whose  like  neither  he  nor  his  people 
will  ever  look  again.  If  there  ever  was  a  time  when 
it  might  seem  excusable  for  a  bereaved  nation  and  a 
bereaved  servant  to  abandon  themselves  to  a  sense 
of  helplessness,  it  was  on  the  death  of  Moses.  But 
even  at  that  supreme  moment  the  command  to  Joshua 
is,  '^  Now  therefore  arise."  Gird  yourself  for  the  new 
duties  and  responsibilities  that  have  come  upon  you. 
Do  not  worry  yourself  with  asking  whether  you  are 
capable  of  doing  these  duties,  or  with  vainly  looking 
within  yourself  for  the  gifts  and  qualities  which  marked 
your  predecessor.  It  is  enough  for  you  that  God  in  His 
providence  calls  you  to  take  the  place  of  the  departed. 
If  He  has  called  you.  He  will  equip  you.  It  is  not  His 
way  to  send  men  a  warfare  on  their  own  charges.  The 
work  to  which  He  calls  you  is  not  yours  but  His. 
Remember  He  is  far  more  interested  in  its  success  than 
you  can  be.  Think  not  of  yourself,  but  of  Him,  and 
go  forth  under  the  motto,  ''  We  will  rejoice  in  Thy 
salvation,  and  in  the  name  of  our  God  we  will  set  up 
our  banners." 


i.2.]  A   SUCCESSOR   TO  MOSES.  41 

In  many  different  situations  of  life  we  may  hear  the 
same  exhortation  that  was  now  addressed  to  Joshua. 
A  wise,  considerate,  and  honoured  father  is  removed, 
and  the  eldest  son,  a  mere  stripling,  is  called  to  take 
his  place,  perhaps  in  the  mercantile  office  or  place  of 
business,  certainly  in  the  domestic  circle.  He  is  called 
to  be  the  comforter  and  adviser  of  his  widowed  mother, 
and  the  example  and  helper  of  his  brothers  and  sisters. 
Well  for  him  when  he  hears  a  voice  from  heaven, 
"  Your  father  is  dead  ;  now  therefore  arise  I  "  Rouse 
yourself  for  the  duties  that  now  devolve  upon  you ; 
onerous  they  may  be  and  beyond  your  strength,  but 
not  on  that  account  to  be  evaded  or  repudiated ;  rather 
to  be  looked  on  as  spurs  provided  and  designed  by 
God,  that  you  may  apply  yourself  with  heart  and  soul 
to  your  duties,  in  the  belief  that  faithful  and  patient 
application  shall  not  be  without  its  reward  ! 

Or  it  may  be  that  the  summons  comes  to  some  young 
minister  as  successor  to  a  father  in  Israel,  whose  ripe 
gifts  and  fragrant  character  have  won  the  confidence 
and  the  admiration  of  all.  Or  to  some  teacher  in  a 
Sunday-school,  where  the  man  of  weight,  of  wise  counsel, 
and  holy  influence  has  been  suddenly  snatched  away. 
But  be  the  occasion  what  it  may,  the  removal  of  any 
man  of  ripe  character  and  gifts  always  comes  to  the 
survivor  with  the  Divine  summons,  ''  Now  therefore 
arise  ! "  That  is  the  one  way  in  which  you  must  try 
to  improve  this  dispensation  ;  the  world  is  poorer  for 
the  loss  of  his  gifts — learn  you  to  make  the  most  of 
yours  I 

It  was  no  mean  impression  of  Moses  that  God  meant 
to  convey  by  the  designation,  ''  Moses  My  servant." 
It  was  not  a  high-sounding  title,  certainly.  A  great 
contrast  to  the  long  list  of  honourable  titles  sometimes 


42  THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 

engraved  on  men's  coffins  or  on  their  tombs,  or  pro- 
claimed by  royal  herald  or  king-at-arms  over  departed 
kings  or  nobles.  One  of  the  greatest  of  men  has  no 
handle  to  his  name — he  is  simply  Moses.  He  has  no 
titles  of  rank  or  office — he  is  simply  *^  My  servant." 
But  true  greatness  is  ''  when  unadorned  adorned  the 
most."  Moses  is  a  real  man,  a  man  of  real  greatness ; 
there  is  no  occasion  therefore  to  deck  him  out  in  tinsel 
and  gilt ;  he  is  gold  to  the  core. 

But  think  what  is  really  implied  in  this  designation, 
^^  My  servant."  Even  if  Moses  had  not  been  God's 
servant  in  a  sense  and  in  a  degree  in  which  few 
other  men  ever  were,  it  would  have  been  a  glorious 
thing  to  obtain  that  simple  appellation.  True  indeed, 
the  term  "  servant  of  God  "  is  such  a  hackneyed  one, 
and  often  so  little  represents  what  it  really  means,  that 
we  need  to  pause  and  think  of  its  full  import.  There 
may  be  much  honour  in  being  a  servant.  Even  in  our 
families  and  factories  a  model  servant  is  a  rare  and 
precious  treasure.  For  a  real  servant  is  one  that  has 
the  interest  of  his  master  as  thoroughly  at  heart  as  his 
own,  and  never  scruples,  at  any  sacrifice  of  personal 
interest  or  feeling,  to  do  all  that  he  can  for  his  master's 
welfare.  A  true  servant  is  one  of  whom  his  master 
may  say,  ''There  is  absolutely  no  need  for  me  to  remind 
him  what  my  interest  requires ;  he  is  always  thinking 
of  my  interest,  always  on  the  alert  to  attend  to  it,  and 
there  is  not  a  single  thing  I  possess  that  is  not  safe  in 
his  hands." 

Does  God  possess  many  such  servants  ?  Who  among 
us  can  suppose  God  saying  this  of  him  ?  Yet  this  was 
the  character  of  Moses,  and  in  God's  eyes  it  invested 
him  with  singular  honour.  It  was  his  distinction  that 
he  was  *'  faithful  in  all  his  house."     His  own  will  was 


i.2.]  A  SUCCESSOR   TO  MOSES,  43 

thoroughly  subdued  to  the  will  of  God.  The  people 
of  whom  God  gave  him  charge  were  dear  to  him  as  a 
right  hand  or  a  right  eye.  All  personal  interests  and 
ambitions  were  put  far  from  him.  To  aggrandise  him- 
self or  to  aggrandise  his  house  never  entered  into  his 
thoughts.  Never  was  self  more  thoroughly  crucified  in 
any  man's  breast.  Beautiful  and  delightful  in  God's 
eyes  must  have  seemed  this  quality  in  Moses, — his 
absolute  disinterestedness,  his  sensibility  to  every  hint 
of  his  Master's  will,  his  consecration  of  all  he  was  and 
had  to  God,  and  to  his  people  for  God's  sake  ! 

It  was  thus  no  unsuggestive  word  that  God  used  of 
Moses,  when  he  told  Joshua  that  ^'  His  servant "  was 
dead.  It  was  a  significant  indication  of  what  God  had 
valued  in  Moses  and  now  expected  of  Joshua.  The 
one  thing  for  Joshua  to  remember  about  Moses  is,  that 
he  was  the  servant  of  God.  Let  him  take  pains  to  be  the 
same ;  let  him  have  his  ear  as  open  as  that  of  Moses 
to  every  intimation  of  God's  will,  his  will  as  prompt 
to  respond,  and  his  hand  as  quick  to  obey. 

Was  not  this  view  of  the  glory  of  Moses  as  God's 
servant  a  foreshadow  of  what  was  afterwards  taught 
more  fully  and  on  a  wider  scale  by  our  Lord  ?  ''  The 
Son  of  man  came  not  to  be  ministered  unto,  but  to 
minister,  and  to  give  His  life  a  ransom  for  many." 
Jesus  sought  to  reverse  the  natural  notions  of  men  as 
to  what  constitutes  greatness,  when  He  taught  that, 
instead  of  being  measured  by  the  number  of  servants 
who  wait  on  us,  it  is  measured  rather  by  the  number 
of  persons  to  whom  we  become  servants.  And  if  it 
was  a  mark  of  Christ's  own  humiliation  that  ''  He  took 
on  Him  the  form  of  a  servant,"  did  not  this  redound 
to  His  highest  glory  ?  Was  it  not  for  this  that  God 
highly  exalted  Him  and  gave  Him  a  name  that  is  above 


44  THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 


every  name  ?  Happy  they  who  are  content  to  be 
God's  servants  in  whatsoever  sphere  of  Hfe  He  may 
place  them  ;  seeking  not  their  own,  but  always  intent 
upon  their  Master's  business  ! 

And  now  Joshua  must  succeed  Moses  and  be  God's 
servant  as  he  was.  He  must  aim  at  this  as  the  one 
distinction  of  his  life ;  he  must  seek  in  every  action  to 
know  what  God  would  have  him  to  do.  Happy  man 
if  he  can  carry  out  this  ideal  of  life  I  No  conflicting 
interests  or  passions  will  distract  his  soul.  His  e3^e 
being  single,  his  whole  body  will  be  full  of  light.  The 
power  that  nerves  his  arm  will  not  be  more  remarkable 
than  the  peace  that  dwells  in  his  soul.  He  will  show 
to  all  future  generations  the  power  of  a  '^  lost  will," — 
not  the  suppression  of  all  desire,  according  to  the 
Buddhist's  idea  of  bliss,  but  all  lawful  natural  desires 
in  happy  and  harmonious  action,  because  subject  to  the 
wise,  holy,  and  loving  guidance  of  the  will  of  God. 

Thus  we  see  among  the  other  paradoxes  of  His 
government,  how  God  uses  death  to  promote  life.  The 
death  of  the  eminent,  the  aged,  the  men  of  brilliant 
gifts  makes  way  for  others,  and  stimulates  their  activity 
and  growth.  When  the  champion  of  the  forest  falls 
the  younger  trees  around  it  are  brought  more  into 
contact  with  the  sunshine  and  fresh  air,  and  push  up 
into  taller  and  more  fully  developed  forms.  If  none  of 
the  younger  growth  attains  the  size  of  the  champion,  a 
great  many  may  be  advanced  to  a  higher  average  of 
size  and  beauty.  If  in  the  second  generation  of  an}^ 
great  religious  movement  few  or  none  can  match  the 
*'  mighties  "  of  the  previous  age,  there  may  be  a  general 
elevation,  a  rise  of  level,  an  increase  of  efficiency  among 
the  rank  and  file. 

In  many  ways  death  enters  into  God's  plans.     Not 


1.2.  A   SUCCESSOR   TO  MOSES.  45 


only  does  it  make  way  for  the  younger  men/  but  it  has 
a  solemnizing  and  quickening  effect  on  all  who  are  not 
hardened  and  dulled  by  the  wear  and  tear  of  life. 

What  a  memorable  event  in  the  spiritual  history  of 
families  is  the  first  sudden  affliction,  the  first  breach  in 
the  circle  of  loving  hearts  I  First,  the  new  experience 
of  intense  tender  longing,  bafQed  by  the  inexorable 
conditions  of  death  ;  then  the  vivid  vision  of  eternity,  the 
reality  of  the  unseen  flashing  on  them  with  living  and 
awful  power,  and  giving  an  immeasurable  importance  to 
the  question  of  salvation  ;  then  the  drawing  closer  to  one 
another,  the  forswearing  of  all  animosities  and  jealousies, 
the  cordial  desire  for  unbroken  peace  and  constant 
co-operation ;  and  if  it  be  the  father  or  the  mother 
that  has  been  taken,  the  ambition  to  be  useful, — to  be 
a  help  not  a  burden  to  the  surviving  parent,  and  to  do 
what  little  they  can  of  what  used  to  be  their  father's 
or  their  mother's  work.  Death  becomes  actually  a 
quickener  of  the  vital  energies  ;  instead  of  a  withering 
influence,  it  drops  like  the  gentle  dew,  and  becomes 
the  minister  of  life. 

And  death  is  not  alone  among  the  destructive  agencies 
that  are  so  often  directed  to  life-giving  ends.  What  a 
remarkable   place  is   that   which   is  occupied  by  Pain 

^  "  Can  death  itself  when  seen  in  the  light  of  this  truth  [the  adjust- 
ment of  every  being  in  animated  nature  to  every  other]  be  denied  to 
be  an  evidence  of  benevolence  ?  I  think  not.  The  law  of  animal 
generation  makes  necessary  the  law  of  animal  death,  if  the  largest 
amount  of  animal  happiness  is  to  be  secured.  If  there  had  been  less 
death  there  must  also  have  been  less  life,  and  what  life  there  was 
must  have  been  poorer  and  meaner.  Death  is  a  condition  of  the 
prolificness  of  nature,  the  multiplicity  of  species,  the  succession  of 
generations,  the  co-existence  of  the  young  and  the  old  ;  and  these 
things,  it  cannot  reasonably  be  doubted,  add  immensely  to  the  sura 
of  animal  happiness." — Flint's  "Theism,"  p.  251. 


46  THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 

among  God's  instruments  of  good  1  How  many  are 
there  who,  looking  back  on  their  lives,  have  to  confess, 
with  a  mixture  of  sadness  and  of  joy,  that  it  is  their 
times  of  greatest  suffering  that  have  been  the  most 
decisive  in  their  lives, — marked  by  their  best  resolu- 
tions,— followed  by  their  greatest  advance  !  And  it 
sometimes  would  seem  as  if  the  acuter  the  suffering 
the  greater  the  blessing.  How  near  God  seems  at 
times  to  come  to  the  height  of  cruelty  when  really 
He  is  overflowing  with  love  !  He  seems  to  select  the 
very  tenderest  spots  on  which  to  inflict  His  blows,  the 
very  tenderest  and  purest  affections  of  the  heart.  It 
is  a  wonderful  triumph  of  faith  and  submission  when 
the  sufferer  stands  firm  and  tranquil  amidst  it  all.  And 
still  more  when  he  can  find  consolation  in  the  analogy 
which  was  supplied  by  God's  own  act, — "  He  that 
spared  not  His  own  Son,  but  delivered  Him  up  for  us 
all,  how  shall  He  not  with  Him  also  freely  give  us  all 
things  ?  " 

And  this  brings  us  to  our  last  application.  Our  Lord 
Himself,  by  a  beautiful  analogy  in  nature,  showed  the 
connection,  in  the  very  highest  sense,  between  death 
and  life — ''  Except  a  grain  of  wheat  fall  into  the  earth 
and  die,  it  abideth  alone ;  but  if  it  die  it  beareth  much 
fruit."  '^  Without  shedding  of  blood  there  is  no  remis- 
sion of  .sin."  When  Jesus  died  at  Calvary,  the  head- 
quarters of  death  became  the  nursery  of  life.  The 
place  of  a  skull,  like  the  prophet's  valley  of  dry  bones, 
gave  birth  to  an  exceeding  great  army  of  living  men. 
Among  the  wonders  that  will  bring  glory  to  God  in  the 
highest  throughout  eternity,  the  greatest  will  be  this 
evolution  of  good  from  evil,  of  happiness  from  pain,  of 
life  from  death.  And  even  when  the  end  comes,  and 
death  is  swallowed  up  of  victory,  and  death  and  hell 


i.2.]  A   SUCCESSOR   TO  MOSES.  47 


are  cast  into  the  lake  of  fire,  there  will  abide  with  the 
glorified  a  lively  sense  of  the  infinite  blessing  that  came 
to  them  from  God  through  the  repulsive  channel  of 
death,  finding  its  highest  expression  in  that  anthem  of 
the  redeemed — ^*  Thou  wast  slain,  and  hast  redeemed 
us  TO  God  by  Thy  blood." 


CHAPTER   IV. 

JOSHUA'S    CALL. 
Joshua  i.  2 — 5. 

JOSHUA  has  heard  the  Divine  voice  summoning  him 
to  the  attitude  of  activity — ^'  Arise  I  "  Directions 
follow  immediately  as  to  the  course  which  his 
activity  is  to  take.  His  first  step  is  to  be  a  very  pro- 
nounced one — '^  Go  over  this  Jordan  "  :  enter  the  land, 
not  by  yourself,  or  with  a  handful  of  comrades,  as  you 
did  forty  years  ago,  but  ^'  thou  and  all  this  people." 
Take  the  bold  step,  cross  the  river  ;  and  when  you 
are  across  the  river,  take  possession  of  the  country 
which  I  now  give  to  your  people.  The  time  has 
come  for  decided  action ;  it  is  for  you  to  show  the 
way,  and  summon  your  people  to  follow. 

It  was  a  very  solemn  and  striking  moment,  second 
only  in  interest  to  that  when,  forty  years  before,  their 
fathers  had  stood  at  the  edge  of  the  sea,  with  the  host 
of  Pharaoh  hurrying  on  behind.  At  length  the  hour 
has  come  to  take  possession  of  the  inheritance  I  At 
length  the  promise  made  so  many  hundred  years  ago  to 
Abraham,  Isaac,  and  Jacob  is  ripe  for  fulfilment  I  You, 
children  of  Israel,  have  seen  that  God  is  in  no  haste  to 
fulfil  His  promises,  and  your  hearts  may  have  known 
much  of  the  sickness  of  hope  deferred.  But  now  you  are 
to  see  that  after  all  God  is  faithful.  He  never  forgets. 
He  makes  no  mistakes.     His  delays  are  all  designed  for 

48 


i.2-5.]  JOSHUA'S   CALL.  '  49 

good,  either  to  chasten  or  to  try,  and  thus  confirm 
and  bless  His  people.  He  will  now  bring  forth  your 
righteousness  as  the  light  and  your  judgment  as  the 
noon-day. 

There  were  two  things  that  might  make  Joshua  and 
the  people  hesitate  to  cross  the  Jordan.  In  the  first 
place,  the  river  was  in  flood  ;  it  was  the  time  when  the 
Jordan  overflowed  its  banks  (Josh.  iii.  15),  and,  being 
a  rapid  river,  crossing  it  in  such  circumstances  might 
well  seem  out  of  the  question.  But  in  the  second  place, 
to  cross  the  Jordan  was  to  throw  down  the  gauntlet  to 
the  enemy:  It  was  a  declaration  of  war,  and  a  challenge 
to  them  to  do  their  worst.  It  was  a  signal  for  them  to 
assemble,  fight  for  their  hearths  and  homes,  and  strain 
every  nerve  to  annihilate  this  invader  who  made  such 
a  bold  claim  to  their  possessions.  All  the  children  of 
Anak  whom  Joshua  had  seen  on  his  former  visit  would 
now  range  themselves  against  Israel ;  all  the  seven 
nations  would  muster  their  bravest  forces,  and  the 
contest  would  not  be  Hke  Joshua's  battle  with  Amalek, 
finished  in  a  single  day,  but  a  long  succession  of  battles, 
in  which  all  the  resources  of  power  and  skill,  of  craft 
and  cunning  would  be  brought  to  bear  against  Israel. 
According  to  appearances,  nothing  short  of  this  would 
be  the  result  of  comphance  with  the  command,  *^  Go 
over  this  Jordan." 

On  the  one  hand,  therefore,  compliance  was  physically 
impossible,  and  on  the  other,  even  if  possible,  it  would 
have  been  fearfully  perilous.  But  it  is  never  God's 
method  to  give  impossible  commands.  The  very  fact 
of  His  commanding  anything  is  a  proof  of  His  readiness 
to  make  it  possible,  nay,  to  make  it  easy  and  simple  to 
those  who  have  faith  to  attempt  it.  ''  Stretch  out  thy 
hand,"  said  Christ  to  the  man  with  the  withered  hand. 

4 


50  THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 

*'  Stretch  out  my  hand  ?  "  the  man  might  have  said  in 
astonishment, — "  why,  it  is  the  very  thing  I  am  unable 
to  do."  "  Rise  up  and  walk,"  said  Peter  to  the  lame 
man  at  the  Beautiful  gate.  '^  How  can  I  do  that  ?  "  he 
might  have  replied  ;  **  don't  you  see  that  I  have  no  use 
of  my  limbs  ?  "  But  in  these  cases  the  helpless  men 
had  faith  in  those  who  bade  them  exert  themselves  ; 
they  believed  that  if  they  tried  they  would  be  helped, 
and  helped  accordingly  they  were.  So  too  in  the 
present  case.  Joshua  knew  that  he  and  the  host  could 
not  have  crossed  the  Jordan  as  it  then  was  by  any 
contrivance  in  his  power ;  but  he  knew  that  it  was 
God's  command,  and  he  was  sure  that  He  would 
provide  the  means.  He  felt  as  if  God  and  the  people 
were  in  partnership,  each  equally  interested  in  the 
result,  and  equally  desirous  to  bring  it  about.  What- 
ever it  was  necessary  for  God  to  do  he  was  assured 
would  be  done,  provided  he  and  the  people  entered 
into  the  Divine  plan,  and  threw  all  their  energies  into 
the  work.  Not  a  word  of  remonstrance  did  Joshua 
offer,  not  a  word  of  explanation  of  the  Divine  plan  did 
he  ask  ;  he  acted  as  a  servant  should  ; 

"  His  not  to  make  reply, 
His  not  to  reason  why  ; " 

his  only  to  trust  and  obey. 

This  faith  in  Divine  power  qualifying  feeble  mortals 
for  the  hardest  tasks  has  originated  some  of  the  noblest 
enterprises  in  the  history  of  the  world.  It  was  a  Divine 
voice  Columbus  seemed  to  hear  bidding  him  cross  the 
wild  Atlantic,  for  he  desired  to  bring  the  natives  of  the 
distant  shores  beyond  it  into  the  pale  of  the  Church  ; 
and  it  was  his  faith  that  sustained  him  when  his  crew 
became  mutinous  and  his  life  was  not  safe  for  an  hour. 
It    was    a  Divine    voice   Livingstone    seemed    to    hear 


i.  2-5.]  JOSHUA'S  CALL.  51 

bidding  him  cross  Africa,  strike  up  into  the  heart  of 
the  continent,  examine  its  structure,  and  throw  it  open 
from  shore  to  shore ;  and  never  was  there  a  faith 
stronger  or  steadier  than  that  which  bore  him  on 
through  fever  and  famine,  through  pain  and  sickness, 
through  disappointment  and  anguish,  and,  even  when 
the  cold  hand  of  death  was  on  him,  would  not  let 
him  rest  until  his  work  was  done. 

Often  in  the  spiritual  warfare  it  is  useful  to  apply 
this  principle.      Are   we  called    to   believe  ?     Are   we 
called  to  make  ourselves  a  new  heart  and  a  new  spirit  ? 
Are  we  summoned  to  fight,  to  wrestle,  to  overcome  ? 
Certainly  we  are.     But  is  not  this  to  tantalize  us  by 
ordering  us  to  do  what  we  cannot  do  ?     Is  not  this  like 
telling  a  sick  man  to  get  well,  or  a  decrepit  old  creature 
to  skip  and  frisk  like  a  child  ?     It  would  be  so  if  the 
principle  of  partnership  between   God  and  us  did  not 
come  into  play.     Faith  says,  God  is  my  partner  in  this 
matter.      Partners  even   in   an    ordinary   business    put 
their  resources  together,  each  doing  what  his  special 
abilities  fit   him  for.     In  the   partnership  which   faith 
establishes  between  God  and  you,  the  resources  of  the 
infinite  Partner  become  available  for  the  needs  of  the 
finite.     It  is  God's  part  to  give  orders,  it  is  your  part 
to  execute  them,  and  it  is  God's  part  to  strengthen  you 
so  to  do.     It  is  this  that  makes  the  command  reasonable, 
'^  Work  out  your  salvation  with   fear  and   trembling  ; 
for  it  is  God  that  worketh  in  you  both  to  will  and  to 
do  of  His  good  pleasure."     Faith  rejoices  in  the  partner- 
ship, and  goes  forward  in  the  confidence  that  the  strength 
of  the  Almighty  will   help  its  weakness,   not   by  one 
sudden  leap,  but  by  that  steady  growth  in  grace  that 
makes  the  path  of  the  just  like  the  shining  light,  that 
shineth  more  and  more  unto  the  perfect  day. 


52  THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 


It  was  a  great  thing  for  God  to  announce  that  He 
was  now  in  the  act  of  turning  His  old,  old  promise  into 
reality, — that  the  land  pledged  to  Abraham  centuries 
ago  was  now  at  length  to  become  the  possession  of  his 
descendants.  But  the  gift  could  be  of  no  avail  unless 
it  was  actually  appropriated.  God  gave  the  people  the 
right  to  the  land  ;  but  their  own  energy,  made  effectual 
through  His  grace,  could  alone  secure  the  possession. 
In  a  remarkable  Vv^ay  they  were  made  to  feel  that, 
while  the  land  was  God's  gift,  the  appropriation  and 
enjoyment  of  the  gift  must  come  through  their  own 
exertions.  Just  as  in  a  higher  sphere  we  know  that 
our  salvation  is  wholly  the  gift  of  God  ;  and  yet  the 
getting  hold  of  this  gift,  the  getting  linked  to  Christ, 
the  entrance  as  it  were  into  the  marriage  covenant  with 
Him  involves  the  active  exertion  of  our  own  will  and 
energy,  and  the  gift  never  can  be  ours  if  we  fail  thus 
to  appropriate  it. 

As  soon  as  God  mentions  the  land.  He  expatiates 
on  its  amplitude  and  its  boundaries.  It  was  designed 
to  be  both  a  comfortable  and  an  ample  possession.  In 
point  of  extent  it  was  a  spacious  region, — ''  from  the 
wilderness  and  this  Lebanon,  even  unto  the  great  river, 
the  river  Euphrates,  all  the  land  of  the  Hittites,  and 
unto  the  great  sea,  towards  the  going  down  of  the 
sun."  And  it  was  not  merely  bits  or  corners  of  this 
land  that  were  to  be  theirs,  they  were  not  designed  to 
share  it  with  other  occupants,  but  ''every  place  that 
the  sole  of  your  foot  shall  tread  upon,  to  you  have  I 
given  it,  as  I  spake  unto  Moses."  It  was  in  no  meagre 
or  stingy  spirit  that  God  was  now  to  fulfil  His  ancient 
promise,  but  in  a  way  corresponding  to  the  essential 
bountifulness  of  His  nature.  For  it  is  a  delightful 
truth  that  God's  heart   is  large  and   liberal,  and   that 


i.2-5.]  JOSHUA'S  CALL.  53 


He  delights  in  large  and  bountiful  gifts.  Has  He  not 
made  this  plain  to  all  in  the  arrangements  of  nature  ? 
What  more  lavish  than  the  gift  of  light,  ever  streaming 
from  the  sun  in  silver  showers  ?  What  more  abundant 
than  the  fresh  air  that,  like  an  inexhaustible  ocean, 
encompasses  our  globe,  or  the  rivers  that  carry  their 
fresh  and  fertilizing  treasures  unweariedly  through  every 
meadow  ?  What  more  productive  than  the  vegetable 
soil  that  under  favourable  conditions  teems  with  fruits 
and  flowers  and  the  elements  of  food  for  the  use  and 
enjoyment  of  man  ? 

And  when  we  turn  to  God's  provision  in  grace  we  find 
glorious  proofs  of  the  same  abundance  and  generosity. 
We  see  this  symbolized  by  the  activity  and  generosity 
of  our  Lord,  as  He  went  about  ''  preaching  the  gospel 
of  the  kingdom,  and  healing  all  manner  of  sickness 
and  all  manner  of  disease  among  the  people."  We 
understand  the  spiritual  reality  of  which  this  was  the 
symbol,  when  we  call  to  mind  the  Divine  generosity 
that  receives  the  vilest  sinners  ;  the  efficacy  of  the  blood 
that  cleanses  from  all  sin  ;  the  power  of  the  Spirit  that 
sanctifies  soul,  body,  and  spirit ;  the  wisdom  of  the 
providence  that  makes  all  things  work  together  for 
good  ;  the  glory  of  the  love  that  makes  us  now  ^^  sons 
of  God,  and  it  doth  not  yet  appear  what  we  shall  be ; 
but  we  know  that  when  He  shall  appear  we  shall  be 
like  Him,  for  we  shall  see  Him  as  He  is."  And  once 
more  it  appears  in  the  glory  and  amplitude  of  the 
inheritance,  of  which  the  land  of  Canaan  was  but  the 
type,  prepared  of  God's  infinite  bounty  for  all  who  are 
His  children  by  faith.  Our  Father's  house  is  both 
large  and  well  furnished ;  it  is  a  house  of  many 
mansions  ;  and  the  inheritance  which  He  has  promised 
is  incorruptible  and  undefiled  and  fadeth  not  away.  . 


54  THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 

It  is  a  grand  truth,  of  which  we  never  can  make  too 
much,  this  bountifuhiess  of  God,  and  the  deHght  which 
He  has  in  being  bountiful.  It  is  emphatically  a  truth 
for  faith  to  apprehend  and  enjoy,  because  appearances 
are  so  often  against  it.  Appearances  were  fearfully 
against  it  while  the  Israelites  were  groaning  in  their 
Egyptian  bondage,  and  hardly  less  so,  despite  the 
manna  and  the  water  from  the  rock,  during  the  forty 
years'  wandering  in  the  desert.  But  that  was  a  period 
of  correction  and  of  training,  and  in  such  circumstances 
lavish  bounty  was  out  of  the  question. 

The  most  bountiful  man  on  earth  could  not  pour  out 
all  the  liberality  of  his  heart  on  the  inmates  of  a 
hospital  for  the  sick  ;  he  may  give  all  that  sick  men 
need,  but  he  must  wait  till  they  are  well  before  he  can 
give  full  scope  to  his  generosity.  While  we  are  in 
the  body  we  are  like  patients  in  a  hospital,  and  the 
kindest  feelings  from  God  toward  us  must  often  take 
the  form  of  bitter  medicines,  painful  operations,  close 
restraint,  stinted  diet,  and  it  may  be  silence  and  dark- 
ness. But  wait  till  we  are  well,  and  then  we  shall  see 
what  God  hath  prepared  for  him  that  waiteth  for  Him  ! 
Wait  till  we  go  over  Jordan  and  take  possession  of  the 
land  !  Two  things  will  be  seen  in  the  clearest  light — 
the  supreme  bountifulness  of  God,  and  the  sinfulness  of 
that  impatient  and  suspicious  spirit  to  which  we  are  so 
prone.  What  a  humiliation,  if  humiliation  be  possible 
in  heaven,  to  discover  that  all  the  time  when  we  were 
fretting  and  grumbling,  God  was  working  out  His 
plans  of  supreme  beneficence  and  love,  waiting  only 
till  we  should  come  of  age  to  make  us  heirs  of  the 
universe  I 

It  is  natural  to  ask  why,  if  the  boundaries  of  the 
promised  land  were  so  extensive,  if  they  reached  so  far 


i.2-5.]  JOSHUA'S  CALL.  55 


on  the  north-east  as  the  Euphrates,  and  if  they  extended 
from  Lebanon  on  the  north  to  the  confines  of  Egypt  on 
the  south,  there  should  have  been  any  difficulty  about 
the  two  and  a  half  tribes  occupying  the  land  east  of 
the  Jordan,  where  only  by  a  special  permission  they 
obtained  their  settlement.  For  it  is  plain  from  the 
narrative  that  it  was  contrary  to  God's  first  intention, 
so  to  speak,  that  they  should  settle  there,  and  that  the 
land  west  of  the  Jordan  was  that  to  which  the  promise 
was  held  specially  to  apply.  It  will  hardly  do  to  say, 
as  some  have  said,  that  the  extension  of  the  land  to  the 
Euphrates  was  a  figure  of  speech,  a  poetical  fringe  or 
ornament  as  it  were,  intended  to  show  that  places 
adjacent  to  the  land  of  Israel  would  share  in  some 
degree  the  radiance  of  its  light  and  the  influence  of  the 
Divine  presence  among  its  people.  For  the  promise  of 
God  was  really  of  the  nature  of  a  charter,  and  figures 
of  poetry  are  not  suitable  in  charters.  It  is  rather  to 
be  understood  that,  in  the  final  purpose  of  God,  the 
possession  included  the  whole  of  the  ample  domain 
contained  within  the  specified  boundaries,  but  that  at 
first  it  would  be  confined  within  a  narrower  space.  If 
the  people  should  prove  faithful  to  the  covenant,  the 
wider  dominion  would  one  day  be  conferred  on  them ; 
but  they  were  to  start  and  get  consolidated  in  a 
naiTower  territory.  And  the  narrower  space  was  that 
which  had  already  been  consecrated  by  the  residence 
of  the  fathers  Abraham,  Isaac,  and  Jacob.  The 
country  west  of  Jordan  was  the  land  of  their  pilgrimage  ; 
and  even  when  Lot  and  Abraham  had  to  separate,  it 
was  not  proposed  that  either  should  cross  the  river. 
The  little  strip  lying  between  the  Jordan  and  the  sea 
was  judged  most  suitable  for  the  preparatory  stage  of 
Israel's  history  ;  but  had  the  nation  served  God  with 


56  THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 

fidelity,  their  country  would  have  been  extended — as 
in  the  days  of  David  and  Solomon  it  really  was — to 
the  dimensions  of  an  empire.  The  rule  afterwards 
announced  was  to  be  virtually  brought  into  operation — 
^'  To  him  that  hath  shall  be  given."  Hence  the  view 
taken  of  the  settlement  of  the  two  and  a  half  tribes 
east  of  the  Jordan.  It  was  not  illegitimate  ;  it  was  not 
inconsistent  with  the  covenant  made  with  the  fathers  ; 
but  it  was  for  the  time  inexpedient,  seeing  that  it  ex- 
posed them  to  risks,  both  material  and  spiritual,  which 
it  would  have  been  better  for  them  to  avoid. 

One  geographical  expression,  in  the  delimitation  of 
the  country,  demands  a  brief  explanation.  While  the 
country  is  defined  as  embracing  the  whole  territory 
from  Lebanon  to  the  Euphrates,  it  is  also  defined  as 
consisting  in  that  direction  of  ''  all  the  land  of  the 
Hittites."  But  were  not  the  Hittites  one  of  the  seven 
nations  whose  land  was  promised  to  Abraham  and  the 
fathers,  and  not  even  the  first  in  the  enumeration  of 
these  ?  Why  should  this  great  north-eastern  section 
of  the  promised  domain  be  designated  ''  the  land  of  the 
Hittites  "  ? 

The  time  was  when  it  was  a  charge  against  the 
accuracy  of  the  Scripture  record  that  it  ascribed  to  the 
Hittites  this  extensive  dominion.  That  time  has  passed 
away,  inasmuch  as,  within  quite  recent  years,  the 
discovery  has  been  made  that  in  those  distant  times 
a  great  Hittite  empire  did  exist  in  the  very  region 
specified,  between  Lebanon  and  the  Euphrates.  The 
discovery  is  based  on  twofold  data  :  references  in  the 
Egyptian  and  other  monuments  to  a  powerful  people, 
called  the  Khita  (Hittites),  with  whom  even  the  great 
kings  of  Egypt  had  long  and  bloody  wars  ;  and  in- 
scriptions  in    the    Hittite  language  found  in   Hamah, 


i.2-5.]  JOSHUA'S  CALL.  57 

Aleppo,  and  other  places  in  Syria.  There  is  still  much 
obscurity  resting  on  the  history  of  this  people.  That 
the  Hittites  proper  prevailed  so  extensively  has  been 
doubted  by  some  ;  a  Hittite  confederacy  has  been  sup- 
posed, and  sometimes  a  Hittite  aristocracy  exercising 
control  over  a  great  empire.  The  only  point  which  it 
is  necessary  to  dwell  on  here  is,  that  in  representing 
the  tract  between  Lebanon  and  Euphrates  as  equivalent 
to  '^all  the  land  of  the  Hittites,"  the  author  of  the 
Book  of  Joshua  made  a  statement  which  has  been 
abundantly  verified  by  recent  research.^ 

To  encourage  and  animate  Joshua  to  undertake 
the  work  and  position  of  Moses  it  is  very  graciously 
promised — ''  There  shall  not  any  man  be  able  to  stand 
before  thee  all  the  days  of  thy  life  :  as  I  was  with 
Moses,  so  ^vill  I  be  with  thee  :  I  will  not  fail  thee,  nor 
forsake  thee."  The  invariable  success  promised  was 
a  greater  boon  than  the  greatest  conquerors  had  been 
able  to  secure.  Uniform  success  is  a  thing  hardly 
known  to  captains  of  great  expeditions,  even  though 
in  the  end  they  may  prevail.  But  the  promise  to 
Joshua  is,  that  all  his  enemies  shall  flee  before  him. 
None  of  his  battles  shall  be  even  neutral,  his  opponents 
must  always  give  way.^  No  son  of  Anak  shall  be  able 
to  oppose  his  onward  march  ;  no  giant,  like  Og  King 
of  Bashan,  shall  terrify  either  him  or  his  troops.  He 
will  ^'  onward  still  to  victory  go," — the  Lord  of  hosts 
ever  with  him,  the  God  of  Jacob  ever  his  defence. 

'  Sec  "  The  Empire  of  the  Hittites."  By  William  Wright,  D.D., 
F.R.G.S.     London,  1886. 

^  The  promise  is  not  inconsistent  with  the  fact  that  Joshua's  troops 
were  defeated  by  the  men  of  Ai.  In  such  promises  there  is  an 
implied  condition  of  steadfast  regard  to  God's  will  on  the  part  of  those 
who  receive  them,  and  this  condition  was  violated  at  Ai,  not  by 
Joshua,  indeed,  but  by  one  of  his  people. 


S8  THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 

And  this  was  no  vague,  indefinite  assurance.  It 
was  sharply  defined  by  a  well-known  example  in  the 
immediate  past — ''As  I  was  with  Moses,  so  I  will  be 
with  thee."  In  what  a  remarkable  variety  of  dangers 
and  trials  God  was  with  Moses !  Now  he  had  to 
confront  the  grandest  monarch  on  earth,  supported  by 
the  strongest  armies,  and  upheld  by  what  claimed  to 
be  the  mightest  gods.  Again  he  had  to  deal  with  an 
apostate  people,  mad  upon  idols,  and  afterwards  with 
an  excited  mob,  ready  to  stone  him.  Anon  he  had  to 
overcome  the  forces  of  nature  and  bend  them  to  his 
purposes  ;  to  call  water  from  the  rock,  to  sweeten  the 
bitter  fountain,  to  heal  the  fiery  bite,  to  cure  his  sister's 
leprous  body,  to  bring  down  bread  from  heaven,  and 
people  the  air  with  flocks  of  birds.  Moreover,  he  had 
to  be  the  messenger  of  the  covenant  between  God  and 
Israel,  to  unfold  God's  law  in  its  length  and  breadth 
and  in  all  its  variety  of  application,  and  to  obtain  from 
the  people  a  hearty  compliance — ''  All  that  the  Lord  hath 
said  unto  us,  that  will  we  do."  What  a  marvellous 
work  Moses  did  !  What  a  testimony  his  life  presented 
to  the  reality  of  the  Divine  presence  and  guidance,  and 
what  a  solid  and  indefeasible  ground  of  trust  God  gave 
to  Joshua  when  He  said,  ''As  I  was  with  Moses,  so 
will  I  be  with  thee." 

And  this  is  crowned  with  the  further  assurance,  "  I 
will  not  fail  thee,  nor  forsake  thee," — an  assurance 
which  is  extended  in  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews  to  all 
who  believe.  We  are  so  apt  to  view  these  promises  as 
just  beautiful  expressions  that  we  need  to  pause  and 
think  what  they  really  mean.  A  promise  of  Divine 
presence,  Divine  protection  and  guidance  and  blessing 
all  the  days  of  our  life,  is  surely  a  treasure  of  inex- 
pressible value.     It  is  no  slight  matter  to  realize  that 


i.2-5.]  JOSHUA'S   CALL.  59 

this  is  in  God's  heart — that  He  has  a  constant,  un- 
varying feehng  of  love  toward  us,  and  readiness  to  help  ; 
but  we  must  believe  this  in  order  to  get  the  benefit  of 
it ;  and,  moreover.  He  must  be  left  to  determine  the 
time,  the  manner,  and  the  form  in  which  His  help  is 
to  come.  Alas  for  the  unbelief,  the  suspicion,  the  fear 
that  is  so  prone  to  eat  out  the  spirit  of  trust,  and  in 
our  trials  and  difficulties  make  us  tremble  as  if  we 
were  alone  !  What  a  profound  peace,  what  calm  en- 
joyment and  blessed  hope  fall  to  the  lot  of  those  who 
can  believe  in  a  God  ever  near,  and  in  His  unfailing 
faithfulness  and  love  !  Was  it  not  the  secret  alike  of 
David's  calmness,  of  our  Lord's  serenity,  and  of  the 
cheerful  composure  of  many  a  martyr  and  many  a 
common  man  and  woman  who  have  gone  through  life 
undisturbed  and  happy,  that  they  could  say — ''  I  have 
set  the  Lord  always  before  me  ;  because  He  is  at  my 
right  hand,  I  shall  not  be  moved  "  ?  God  grant  us  all 
that,  like  Abraham,  we  may  '^  stagger  not  at  the  promise 
of  God  through  unbelief,  but  that  being  strong  in  faith 
we  may  give  glory  to  God,  and  believe  that  what  He 
hath  promised  He  is  able  also  to  perform." 


CHAPTER   V. 

JOSHUA'S  ENCOURAGEMENT. 
Joshua  i.  6 — 9. 

GOD  has  promised  to  be  with  Joshua,  but  Joshua 
must  strive  to  act  Hke  one  in  partnership  with 
God.  And  that  He  may  do  so,  God  has  just  two 
things  to  press  on  him  :  in  the  first  place,  to  be  strong 
and  of  a  good  courage ;  and  in  the  second  place, 
to  make  the  book  of  the  law  his  continual  study  and 
guide!  In  this  way  he  shall  be  able  to  achieve  the 
specific  purpose  to  which  he  is  called,  to  divide  the  land 
for  an  inheritance  to  the  people,  as  God  hath  sworn  to 
their  fathers  ;  and  likewise,  more  generally,  to  fulfil  the 
conditions  of  a  successful  life — '^  then  shalt  thou  make 
thy  way  prosperous,  and  then  thou  shalt  have  good 
success." 

First,  Joshua  must  be  strong  and  very  courageous. 
But  are  strength  and  courage  really  within  our  own 
power  ?  Is  strength  not  absolutely  a  Divine  gift,  and 
as  dependent  on  God  in  its  ordinary  degrees  as  it  was 
in  the  case  of  Samson  in  its  highest  degree  ?  No  doubt 
in  a  sense  it  is  so ;  and  yet  the  amount  even  of  our 
bodily  strength  is  not  wholly  beyond  our  own  control. 
As  bodily  strength  is  undoubtedly  weakened  by  careless 
living,  by  excess  of  eating  and  drinking,  by  all  irregular 

60 


i 


i.6-9.]  JOSHUAS  ENCOURAGEMENT.  6i 

habits,  by  the  breathing  of  foul  air,  by  indolence  and 
self-indulgence  of  every  kind,  so  undoubtedly  it  is 
increased  and  promoted  by  attention  to  the  simple 
laws  of  health,  by  activity  and  exercise,  by  sleep  and 
sabbatic  rest,  by  the  moderate  use  of  wholesome  food, 
as  well  as  by  abstinence  from  hurtful  drinks  and  drugs. 
And  surely  the  duty  of  being  strong,  in  so  far  as  such 
things  can  give  strength,  is  of  far  more  importance  than 
many  think ;  for  if  we  can  thus  maintain  and  increase 
our  strength  we  shall  be  able  to  serve  both  God  and 
man  much  better  and  longer  than  we  could  otherwise 
have  done.  On  the  other  hand,  the  feebleness  and 
fitfulness  and  querulousness  often  due  to  preventible 
illness  must  increase  the  trouble  which  we  give  to 
others,  and  lessen  the  beneficent  activity  and  the 
brightening  influence  of  our  own  lives. 

But  in  Joshua's  case  is  was  no  doubt  strength  and 
courage  of  soul  that  was  mainly  meant.  Even  that 
is  not  wholly  independent  of  the  ordinary  conditions 
of  the  body.  On  the  other  hand,  there  are  no  doubt 
memorable  cases  where  the  elasticity  and  power  of  the 
spirit  have  been  in  the  very  inverse  ratio  to  the  strength 
of  the  body.  By  cheerful  views  of  life  and  duty,  natural 
depression  has  been  counteracted,  and  the  soul  filled 
with  hope  and  joy.  ''  The  joy  of  the  Lord,"  said 
Nehemiah,  ^^is  the  strength  of  His  people."  Fellowship 
with  God,  as  our  reconciled  God  and  Father  in  Christ, 
is  a  source  of  perpetual  strength.  Who  does  not  know 
the  strengthening  and  animating  influence  of  the 
presence  even  of  a  friend,  when  we  find  his  fresh  and 
joyous  temperament  playing  on  us  in  some  season  of 
depression  ?  The  radiance  of  his  face,  the  cheeriness 
of  his  voice,  the  elasticity  of  his  movements  seem  to 
infuse    new    hope    and    courage    into    the  jaded    soul. 


62  THE  BOOK   OF  JOSHUA. 


When  he  is  gone,  we  try  to  shake  off  the  despondent 
feehng  that  has  seized  us,  and  gird  ourselves  anew  for 
the  battle  of  life.  And  if  such  an  effect  can  be  pro- 
duced by  fellowship  with  a  fellow-creature,  how  much 
more  by  fellowship  with  the  infinite  God  ! — especially 
when  it  is  His  work  we  are  trying  to  do,  and  when  we 
have  all  His  promises  of  help  to  rest  on.  ''  God  is  near 
thee,  therefore  cheer  thee "  is  a  perpetual  solace  and 
stimulus  to  the  Christian  soul. 

But  even  men  who  are  full  of  Christian  courage  need 
props  and  bulwarks  in  the  hour  of  trial.  Ezra  and 
Nehemiah  were  bold,  but  they  had  ways  of  stimulating 
their  courage,  which  they  sometimes  needed  to  fall  back 
on,  and  they  could  find  allies  in  unlikely  quarters. 
Ezra  could  draw  courage  even  from  his  shame,  and 
Nehemiah  from  his  very  pride.  ^'  I  was  ashamed,"  said 
Ezra,  ''  to  require  of  the  king  a  band  of  soldiers  and 
horsemen  to  help  us  against  the  enemy  in  the  way;" 
therefore  he  determined  to  face  the  danger  with  no  help 
but  the  unseen  help  of  God.  And  when  Neherniah's 
life  was  in  danger  from  the  cunning  devices  of  the 
enemy,  and  his  friends  advised  him  to  hide  himself,  he 
repelled  the  advice  with  high-minded  scorn — ''  Should 
such  a  man  as  I  flee  ?  " 

But  there  is  no  source  of  courage  like  that  which 
flows  from  the  consciousness  of  serving  God,  and  the 
consequent  assurance  that  He  will  sustain  and  help  His 
servants.  Brief  ejaculatory  prayers,  constantly  dropping 
from  their  lips,  often  bring  the  courage  which  is  needed. 
''  Now,  therefore,  O  God,  strengthen  my  hands,"  was 
Nehemiah's  habitual  exclamation  when  faintness  of 
heart  came  over  him.  No  doubt  it  was  Joshua's  too, 
as  it  has  always  been  of  the  best  of  God's  servants. 
Again  and  again,  amid  the  murderous  threats  of  canni- 


16-9.]  JOSHUA'S  ENCOURAGEMENT.  63 

bals  in  the  New  Hebrides,  the  missionary  Paton  must 
have  sunk  into  despair  but  for  his  firm  beUef  in  the 
protection  of  God. 

The  other  counsel  to  Joshua  was  to  follow  in  all 
things  the  instructions  of  Moses,  and  for  this  end,  not 
to  let  '^  the  book  of  the  law  depart  out  of  his  mouth, 
but  to  meditate  on  it  day  and  night,  that  he  might 
observe  to  do  all  that  was  written  therein." 

For  Joshua  was  called  to  be  the  executor  of  Moses, 
as  it  were,  not  to  start  on  an  independent  career  of  his 
own  ;  and  that  particular  call  he  most  humbly  and 
cheerfully  accepted.  Instead  of  breaking  with  the  past, 
he  was  delighted  to  build  on  it  as  his  foundation,  and 
carry  it  out  to  its  predestined  issues.  It  was  no  part 
of  his  work  to  improve  on  what  Moses  had  done  ;  he 
was  simpl}^  to  accept  it  and  carry  it  out.  He  had  his 
brief,  he  had  his  instructions,  and  these  it  was  his  one 
business  to  fulfil.  No  puritan  ever  accepted  God's 
revelation  with  more  profound  and  unquestioning 
reverence  than  Joshua  accepted  the  law  of  Moses.  No 
Oliver  Cromwell  or  General  Gordon  ever  recognised 
more  absolutely  his  duty  to  carry  out  the  plan  of 
another,  and,  undisturbed  himself,  leave  the  issue  in 
His  hands.  He  was  to  be  a  very  incarnation  of  Moses, 
and  was  so  to  meditate  on  his  law  day  and  night  that 
his  mind  should  be  saturated  with  its  contents. 

This,  indeed,  was  a  necessity  for  Joshua,  because  he 
required  to  have  a  clear  perception  of  the  great  purpose 
of  God  regarding  Israel.  Why  had  God  taken  the 
unusual  course  of  entering  into  covenant  with  a  single 
family  out  of  the  mass  of  mankind  ?  A  purpose 
deliberately  formed  and  clung  to  for  more  than  four 
hundred  years  must  be  a  grand  object  in  the  Divine 
mind.     It  was  Joshua's  part    to    keep    the   people    in 


64  THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 

mind  of  the  solemnity  and  grandeur  of  their  mission 
and  to  call  them  to  a  corresponding  mode  of  life. 
What  can  more  effectually  give  dignity  and  self-respect 
to  men  than  to  find  that  they  have  a  part  in  the  grand 
purposes  of  God  ?  To  find  that  God  is  not  asleep  ; 
that  He  has  neither  given  up  the  world  to  chance  nor 
bound  it  with  a  chain  of  irreversible  law,  but  that  He 
calls  us  to  be  fellow-workers  with  Him  in  a  great  plan 
which  shall  in  the  end  tend  gloriously  to  advance  the 
highest  welfare  of  man  ? 

This  habit  of  meditation  on  the  law  which  Joshua 
was  instructed  to  practise  was  of  great  value  to  one 
who  was  to  lead  a  busy  life.  No  mere  cursory  perusal 
of  a  book  of  law  can  secure  the  ends  for  which  it  is 
given.  The  memory  is  treacherous,  the  heart  is  care- 
less, and  the  power  of  worldly  objects  to  withdraw 
attention  is  proverbial.  We  must  be  continually  in 
contact  with  the  Book  of  God.  The  practice  enjoined 
on  Joshua  has  kept  its  ground  among  a  limited  class 
during  all  the  intervening  generations.  In  every  age 
of  the  Church  it  has  been  impressed  on  all  devout  and 
earnest  hearts  that  there  can  be  no  spiritual  prosperity 
and  progress  without  daily  meditation  on  the  Word 
of  God.  It  would  be  hard  to  believe  in  the  genuine 
Christianity  of  any  one  who  did  not  make  a  practice 
morning  and  evening  of  bringing  his  soul  into  contact 
with  some  portion  of  that  Word.  And  wherever  an 
eminent  degree  of  piety  has  been  reached,  we  shall 
find  that  an  eminently  close  study  of  the  Word  has 
been  practised.  Where  the  habit  is  perfunctory,  the 
tendency  is  to  omit  the  meditation  and  to  be  content  with 
the  reading.  Even  in  pious  families  there  is  a  risk  that 
the  reading  of  the  Scriptures  morning  and  evening  may 
push  the  duty  of  meditation  aside,  though  even  then 


i.6-9.]  JOSHUA'S  ENCOURAGEMENT.  65 

we  are  not  to  despise  the  benefit  that  arises  from  the 
famiharity  gained  with  their  contents. 

But,  on  the  other  hand,  the  instances  are  numberless 
of  men  attaining  to  great  intimacy  with  the  Divine  will 
and  to  a  large  conformity  to  it,  through  meditation  on 
the  Scriptures.     To  many  the  daily  portion  comes  fresh 
as  the  manna  gathered   each   morning  at  the  door  of 
Israel's  camp.     Think   of  men   like   George   Miiller  of 
Bristol   reading  the   Bible   from   beginning  to    end    as 
many  as  a  hundred  times,  and   finding  it  more  fresh 
and  interesting  at  each  successive  perusal.     Think  of 
Livingstone    reading    it    right     on    four    times   when 
detained  at  Manyuema,  and  Stanley  three  times  during 
his  Emin  expedition.     What  resources  must   be  in  it, 
what  hidden  freshness,  what  power  to  feed  and  revive 
the  soul  I     The  sad  thing  is  that  the  practice  is  so  rare. 
Listen  to  the  prophet-like  rebuke  of  Edward  Irving  to 
the  generation   of  his  time  :   "  Who  feels  the  sublime 
dignity  there  is  in  a  fresh  saying  descended  from  the 
porch  of  heaven  ?     Who  feels  the  awful  weight  there  is 
in   the  least  iota  that  hath   dropped  from   the   lips  of 
God  ?     Who  feels  the  thrilling  fear  or  trembling  hope 
there  is  in  words  whereon  the  eternal  destinies  of  him- 
self do  hang  ?     Who  feels  the  swelling  tide  of  gratitude 
within  his  breast  for  redemption  and  salvation,  instead 
of  flat  despair  and  everlasting  retribution  ?  .   .   .  This 
book,  the   offspring  of  the   Divine  mind  and  the  per- 
fection of  heavenly  wisdom  is  permitted  to  lie  from  day 
to  day,   perhaps   from   week   to    week,   unheeded    and 
unperused  ;  never  welcome  to  our  happy,  healthy,  and 
energetic  moods  ;  admitted,  if  admitted  at  all,  in  seasons 
of  weakness,  feeblemindedness,  and  disabling  sorrow. 
.  .  .  Oh,    if  books    had    but    tongues    to    speak  their 
wrongs,    then    might    this    book    exclaim,     Hear,    O 

5 


66  THE  BOOK   OF  JOSHUA. 


heavens,  and  give  ear,  O  earth !  I  came  from  the 
love  and  embrace  of  God,  and  mute  nature,  to  whom  I 
brought  no  boon,  did  me  rightful  homage.  ...  I  set 
open  to  you  the  gates  of  salvation  and  the  way  of 
eternal  life,  heretofore  unknown.  .  .  .  But  ye  requited 
me  with  no  welcome,  ye  held  no  festivity  on  my 
arrival  ;  ye  sequester  me  from  happiness  and  heroism, 
closeting  me  with  sickness  and  infirmity  ;  ye  make  not 
of  me,  nor  use  me  as  your  guide  to  wisdom  and  pru- 
dence, but  press  me  into  your  list  of  duties,  and  with- 
draw me  to  a  mere  corner  of  your  time,  and  most  of 
you  set  me  at  nought  and  utterly  disregard  me.  .  .  . 
If  you  had  entertained  me,  I  should  have  possessed 
you  of  the  peace  which  I  had  with  God  when  I  was 
with  Him  and  was  daily  His  delight  rejoicing  always 
before  Him.  .  .  .  Because  I  have  called  and  ye  refused 
...  I  also  will  laugh  at  your  calamity  and  mock  when 
your  fear  cometh."^ 

It  is  no  excuse  for  neglecting  this  habitual  reading  of 
the  Book  of  God  that  He  places  us  now  more  under 
the  action  of  principles  than  the  discipline  of  details. 
For  the  glory  of  principles  is  that  they  have  a  bearing 
on  every  detail  of  our  life.  '^  Whatsoever  ye  do  in 
word  or  in  deed,  do  all  in  the  name  of  the  Lord  Jesus, 
giving  thanks  unto  God  and  the  Father  by  Him." 
What  could  be  more  comprehensive  than  this  principle 
of  action — a  principle  that  extends  to  ''  whatsoever  we 
do  "  ?  There  is  not  a  moment  of  our  waking  life,  not 
an  action  great  or  small  we  ever  perform  where  the 
influence  of  this  wide  precept  ought  not  to  be  felt. 
And  how  can  it  become  thus  pervasive  unless  we  make 
it  a  subject  of  continual  meditation  ? 

'   "  For  the  Oracles  of  God  :  four  Orations."     Pp.  3—6. 


i.6-9.]  JOSHUA'S  ENCOURAGEMENT.  67 

In  the  case  of  Joshua,  all  the  strenuous  exhortations 
to  him  to  be  strong  and  of  a  good  courage,  and  to 
meditate  on  the  Divine  law  as  given  by  Moses  by  day 
and  by  night,  were  designed  to  qualify  him  for  his 
great  work — '^  to  divide  the  land  for  an  inheritance 
to  the  people  as  God  had  sworn  to  their  fathers." 
First  of  all,  the  land  had  to  be  conquered ;  and  there  is 
no  difficulty  in  seeing  how  necessary  it  was  for  one 
who  had  this  task  on  hand  to  be  strong  and  of  a  good 
courage,  and  to  meditate  pn  God's  law.  Then  the  land 
had  to  be  divided,  and  the  people  settled  in  their  new 
life,  and  Joshua  had  to  initiate  them,  as  it  were,  in  that 
life  ;  he  had  to  bind  on  their  consciences  the  conditions 
on  which  the  land  was  to  be  enjoyed,  and  start  them 
in  the  performance  of  the  duties,  moral,  social  and 
religious,  which  the  Divine  constitution  required.  Here 
lay  the  most  difficult  part  of  his  task.  To  conquer 
the  country  required  but  the  talent  of  a  military 
commander ;  to  divide  the  country  was  pretty  much 
an  affair  of  trigonometry ;  but  to  settle  them  in  a 
higher  sense,  to  create  a  moral  affinity  between  them 
and  their  God,  to  turn  their  hearts  to  the  covenant  of 
their  fathers,  to  wean  them  from  their  old  idolatries 
and  establish  them  in  such  habits  of  obedience  and 
trust  that  the  doing  of  God's  will  would  become  to 
them  a  second  nature, — here  was  the  difficulty  for 
Joshua.  They  had  not  only  to  be  planted  physically 
in  groups  over  the  country,  but  they  had  to  be  married 
to  it  morally,  otherwise  they  had  no  security  of  tenure, 
but  were  liable  to  summary  eviction.  It  was  no  land 
of  rest  for  idolaters ;  all  depended  on  the  character 
they  attained ;  loyalty  to  God  was  the  one  condition  of 
a  happy  settlement ;  let  them  begin  to  trifle  with  the 
claims  of  Jehovah,   punishment    and    suffering,   to    be 


68  THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 

followed  finally  by  dispersion  and  captivity,  was  the 
inevitable  result. 

It  was  thus  that  Joshua  had  to  justify  his  name, — to 
show  that  he  was  worthy  to  be  called  by  the  name  of 
Jesus.  The  work  of  Jesus  may  be  said  to  have  been 
symbolized  both  by  that  of  Moses  and  that  of  Joshua. 
Moses  symbolized  the  Redeemer  in  rescuing  the  people 
from  Egypt  and  their  miserable  bondage  there ;  as 
^'  Christ  hath  redeemed  us  from  the  curse  of  the 
law."  Joshua  symbolized  Him  as  He  renews  our 
hearts  and  makes  us  ^'meet  to  be  partakers  of  the 
inheritance  of  the  saints  in  light."  For  there  are  con- 
ditions moral  and  spiritual  essential  to  our  dwelling  in 
the  heavenly  Canaan.  ''  Lord,  who  shall  abide  in  Thy 
tabernacle  ?  and  who  shall  dwell  in  Thy  holy  hill  ?  He 
that  hath  clean  hands,  and  a  pure  heart ;  who  hath  not 
lifted  up  his  soul  to  vanity,  nor  sworn  deceitfully." 
The  atmosphere  of  heaven  is  too  pure  to  be  breathed 
by  the  unregenerate  and  unsanctified.  There  must  be 
an  adaptation  between  the  character  of  the  inhabitant 
and  the  place  of  his  habitation.  "  Verily,  verily,  I  say 
unto  you.  Except  a  man  be  born  of  water  and  of  the 
Spirit,  he  cannot  see  the  kingdom  of  God." 

Thus  we  see  the  connection  between  Joshua's  devo- 
tion to  the  book  of  the  law,  and  success  in  the  great 
work  of  his  life — ^'  then  thou  shalt  make  thy  way 
prosperous,  and  then  thou  shalt  have  good  success." 
No  doubt  he  would  have  the  appearance  of  success  if 
he  simply  cleared  out  the  inhabitants  who  were  so 
degraded  by  sin  that  God  was  compelled  to  sweep 
them  off,  and  settled  His  people  in  their  room.  But 
that,  after  all,  was  but  a  small  matter  unless  accom- 
panied by  something  more.  It  would  not  secure  the 
people  from  at  last  sharing  the  fate  of  the  old  inhabit- 


i.6-9.]  JOSHUA'S  ENCOURAGEMENT.  69 


ants  ;  so  far  at  least  that  though  they  should  not  be 
exterminated,  yet  they  would  be  scattered  over  the  face 
of  the  globe.  How  could  Joshua  get  rid  of  these 
ominous  words  in  the  song  of  Moses  to  which  they  had 
so  lately  listened  ? — '*  They  provoked  Him  to  jealousy 
with  strange  gods,  with  abominations  provoked  they 
Him  to  anger.  They  sacrified  to  devils,  not  to  God ; 
to  gods  whom  they  knew  not,  to  new  gods  that  came 
newly  up,  whom  your  fathers  feared  not.  .  .  .  And  He 
said,  I  will  hide  My  face  from  them,  I  will  see  what 
their  end  shall  be  :  for  they  are  a  very  frovv^ard  genera- 
tion, children  in  whom  is  no  faith."  But  even  if  in  the 
end  of  the  day  it  should  come  to  this,  nevertheless 
Joshua  might  so  move  and  impress  the  people  for  the 
time  being,  that  in  the  immediate  future  all  would  be 
well,  and  the  dreaded  consummation  would  be  put  off 
to  a  distant  day. 

And  so  at  all  times,  in  dealing  with  human  beings, 
we  can  obtain  no  adequate  and  satisfying  success  unless 
their  hearts  are  turned  to  God.  Your  children  niay  be 
great  scholars,  or  successful  merchants,  or  distinguished 
authors,  or  brilliant  artists,  or  even  statesmen ;  what 
does  it  come  to  if  they  are  dead  to  God,  and  have  no 
living  fellowship  with  Jesus  Christ  ?  Your  congrega- 
tion may  be  large  and  influential,  and  wealthy,  and 
liberal ;  what  if  they  are  v/orldly,  proud,  and  conten- 
tious ?  We  must  aim  at  far  deeper  effects,  effects  not 
to  be  found  without  the  Spirit  of  God.  The  more  we 
labour  in  this  spirit,  the  more  shall  our  way  be  made 
prosperous,  the  better  shall  be  our  success.  '^  For 
them  that  honour  Me  I  will  honour ;  but  they  that 
despise  Me  shall  be  lightly  esteemed." 


CHAPTER   VI. 

JOSHUA'S   CHARGE   TO    THE  PEOPLE. 
Joshua  i.  lo — 18. 

GOD  has  spoken  to  Joshua ;  it  is  now  Joshua's 
part  to  speak  to  the  people.  The  crossing  of 
the  Jordan  must  be  set  about  at  once,  and  in  earnest, 
and  all  the  risks  and  responsibilities  involved  in  that 
step  firmly  and  fearlessly  encountered. 

And  in  the  steps  taken  by  Joshua  for  this  purpose 
we  see,  what  we  so  often  see,  how  the  natural  must  be 
exhausted  before  the  supernatural  is  brought  in.  Thus, 
in  communicating  with  the  people  through  the  shoterim, 
or  officers,  the  first  order  which  he  gives  is  to  ^'  com- 
mand the  people  to  prepare  them  victuals."  ^'  Victuals  " 
denotes  the  natural  products  of  the  country,  and  is 
evidently  used  in  opposition  to  ''  manna."  In  another 
passage  we  read  that  ''  the  manna  ceased  on  the 
very  morning  after  they  had  eaten  of  the  old  corn 
of  the  land "  (chap.  v.  1 2).  This  may  have  been  a 
considerable  time  before,  for  the  conquest  of  Sihon  and 
Og  would  give  the  people  possession  of  ample  stores 
of  food  out  of  the  old  corn  of  the  land.  The  manna 
was  a  provision  for  the  desert  only,  where  few  or  no 
natural  .supplies  of  food  could  be  found.  But  the  very 
day  when  natural  stores  become  available,  the  manna 

70 


i.  10-18.]    JOSHUA'S   CHARGE   TO    THE  PEOPLE.  71 


is  discontinued.  One  cannot  but  contrast  the  carefully 
limited  use  of  the  supernatural  in  Scripture  with  its 
arbitrary  and  unstinted  employment  in  mythical  or 
fictional  writings.  Often  in  such  cases  it  is  brought 
in  with  a  wanton  profusion,  simply  to  excite  wonder, 
sometimes  to  gratify  the  love  of  the  grotesque,  not 
because  natural  means  could  not  have  accomplished 
what  was  sought,  but  through  sheer  love  of  reveUing 
in  the  supernatural.  In  Scripture  the  natural  is  never 
superseded  when  it  is  capable  of  either  helping  or 
accomplishing  the  end.  The  east  wind  helps  to  dry 
the  Red  Sea,  although  the  rod  of  Moses  has  to  be 
stretched  out  for  the  completion  of  the  work.  The 
angel  of  God  knocks  Peter's  chains  from  his  limbs  and 
opens  the  prison  gates  for  him,  but  leaves  him  to  find 
his  way  thereafter  as  best  he  can.  So  now.  It  is  now 
in  thei  power  of  the  people  to  prepare  them  victuals, 
and  though  God  might  easil}^  feed  them  as  He  has  fed 
them  miraculously  for  forty  years,  He  leaves  them  to 
find  food  for  themselves.  In  all  cases  the  co-operation 
of  the  Divine  and  the  human  is  carried  out  with  an  in- 
structive combination  of  generosity  and  economy  ;  man 
is  never  to  be  idle  ;  alike  in  the  affairs  of  the  temporal 
and  the  spiritual  life,  the  Divine  energy  always  stimu- 
lates to  activity,  never  lulls  to  sleep. 

A  little  explanation  is  needed  respecting  the  time 
when  Joshua  said  the  Jordan  must  be  crossed — ''  within 
three  days."  If  the  narrative  of  the  first  two  chapters 
be  taken  in  chronological  order,  more  than  three  days 
must  have  elapsed  between  the  issuing  of  this  order 
and  the  crossing  of  the  river,  because  it  is  expressly 
stated  that  the  two  spies  who  were  sent  to  examine 
Jericho  hid  themselves  for  three  days  in  the  mountains, 
and   thereafter  recrossed   the  Jordan  and   returned  to 


72  THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 


Joshua  (ii.  22).  But  it  is  quite  in  accordance  with 
the  practice  of  Scripture  narrative  to  introduce  an 
episode  out  of  its  chronological  place  so  that  it  may 
not  break  up  the  main  record.  It  is  now  generally 
held  that  the  spies  were  sent  oft'  before  Joshua  issued 
this  order  to  the  people,  because  it  is  not  likely  that 
he  would  have  committed  himself  to  a  particular  day 
before  he  got  the  information  which  he  expected  the 
spies  to  bring.  In  any  case,  it  is  plain  that  no 
needless  delay  was  allowed.  Half  a  week  more  and 
Jordan  would  be  crossed,  although  the  means  of  cross- 
ing it  had  not  yet  been  made  apparent ;  and  then  the 
people  would  be  actually  in  their  own  inheritance, 
within  the  very  country  which  in  the  dim  ages  of  the 
past  had  been  promised  to  their  fathers. 

Yes,  the  people  generally ;  but  already  an  arrangement 
had  been  made  for  the  Reubenites,  the  Gadites,  and  the 
half-tribe  of  Manasseh  on  the  east  side  of  the  river. 
How,  then,  were  they  to  act  in  the  present  crisis  ? 
That  had  been  determined  between  them  and  Moses 
when  they  got  leave  to  occupy  the  lands  of  Sihon  and 
Og,  on  account  of  their  suitableness  for  their  abundant 
flocks  and  herds.  It  had  been  arranged  then  that, 
leaving  their  cattle  and  their  children,  a  portion  of  the 
men  likewise,  the  rest  would  cross  the  river  with  their 
brethren  and  take  their  share  of  the  toils  and  risks 
of  the  conquest  of  Western  Canaan.  All  that  Joshua 
needs  to  do  now  is  to  remind  them  of  this  arrangement. 
Happily  there  was  no  reluctance  on  their  part  to  fulfil 
it.  There  was  no  going  back  from  their  word,  even 
though  they  might  have  found  a  loophole  of  escape. 
They  might  have  said  that  as  the  conquest  of  Sihon 
and  Og  had  been  accomplished  so  easily,  so  the  con- 
quest of  the  western  tribes  would  be  equally  simple. 
Or  they  might  have  said  that  the  nine  tribes  and  a 


i.  10-18.]  JOSHUA'S  CHARGE   TO   THE  PEOPLE.  73 

half  could  furnish  quite  a  large  enough  army  to  dis- 
possess the  Canaanites.  Or  they  might  have  discovered 
that  their  wives  and  children  were  exposed  to  dangers 
they  had  not  apprehended,  and  that  it  would  be 
necessary  for  the  entire  body  of  the  men  to  remain  and 
protect  them.  But  they  fell  back  on  no  such  after 
thought.  They  kept  their  word  at  no  small  cost  of 
toil  and  danger,  and  furnished  thereby  a  perpetual 
lesson  for  those  who,  having  made  a  promise  under 
pressure,  are  tempted  to  resile  from  it  when  the 
pressure  is  removed.  Fidelity  to  engagements  is  a 
noble  quality,  just  as  laxity  in  regard  to  them  is  a 
miserable  sin.  Even  Pagan  Rome  could  boast  of  a 
Regulus  who  kept  his  oath  by  returning  to  Carthage, 
though  it  was  to  encounter  a  miserable  death.  In  the 
fifteenth  psalm  it  is  a  feature  in  the  portrait  of  the 
man  who  is  to  abide  in  God's  tabernacle  and  dwell  in 
His  holy  hill,  that  he  *^  sweareth  to  his  own  hurt,  and 
changeth  not." 

One  arrangement  was  made  by  these  transjordanic 
tribes  that  was  perfectly  reasonable — a  portion  of  the 
men  remained  to  guard  their  families  and  their  property. 
The  number  that  passed  over  was  forty  thousand 
(Josh.  iv.  13),  whereas  the  entire  number  of  men 
capable  of  bearing  arms  (dividing  Manasseh  into  two) 
was  a  hundred  and  ten  thousand  (Num.  xxvi.  7,  18,  and 
34).  But  the  contingent  actually  sent  was  amply  suffi- 
cient to  redeem  the  promise,  and,  consisting  probably 
of  picked  men,  was  no  doubt  a  very  efficient  portion 
of  the  force.  The  actual  fighting  force  of  the  other 
tribes  would  probably  be  in  the  same  proportion  to  the 
whole  ;  and  there,  too,  a  section  would  have  to  be  left 
to  guard  the  women,  children,  and  flocks,  so  that  in 
point  of  fact  the  labours  and  dangers  of  the  conquest 
were  about  equally  divided  between  all  the  tribes. 


74  THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 

Here,  then,  was  an  edifying  spectacle  :  those  who 
had  been  first  provided  for  did  not  forget  those  who 
had  not  yet  obtained  any  settlement ;  but  held  them- 
selves bound  to  assist  their  brethren  until  they  should 
be  as  comfortably  settled  as  themselves. 

It  was  a  grand  testimony  against  selfishness,  a  grand 
assertion  of  brotherhood,  a  beautiful  manifestation  of 
loyalty  and  public  spirit ;  and,  we  may  add,  an  instruc- 
tive exhibition  of  the  working  of  the  method  by  which 
God's  providence  seeks  to  provide  for  the  dissemination 
of  many  blessings  among  the  children  of  men.  It  was 
an  act  of  socialism,  without  the  drawbacks  which  most 
forms  of  socialism  involve. 

God  has  allowed  many  differences  in  the  lots  of 
mankind,  bestowing  on  some  ample  means,  for  which 
they  toiled  not  neither  did  they  spin  ;  bestowing,  often 
on  the  same  individuals,  a  higher  position  in  life,  with 
corresponding  social  influence  ;  setting  some  nations  in 
the  van  of  the  world's  march,  bestowing  on  some  churches 
very  special  advantages  and  means  of  influence;  and  it 
is  a  great  question  that  arises — what  obligations  rest  on 
these  favoured  individuals  and  communities  ?  Does 
God  lay  any  duty  on  them  toward  the  rest  of  mankind? 

The  inquiry  in  its  full  scope  is  too  wide  for  our 
limits  ;  let  us  restrict  ourselves  to  the  element  in  respect 
of  which  the  transjordanic  tribes  had  the  advantage  of 
the  others — the  element  of  time.  What  do  those  who 
have  received  their  benefits  early  owe  to  those  who 
are  behind  them  in  time  ? 

The  question  leads  us  first  to  the  family  constitution, 
but  there  is  really  no  question  here.  The  obligations 
of  parents  to  their  children  are  the  obligations  of  those 
who  have  already  got  their  settlement  to  those  who 
have   not ;   of  those  who  have  already  got  means,  and 


i.  10-18.]    JOSHUA'S   CHARGE   TO    THE  PEOPLE.  75 


Strength,  and  experience,  and  wisdom  to  those  who  have 
not  yet  had  time  to  acquire  them.  It  is  only  the  vilest 
of  our  race  that  refuse  to  own  their  obligations  here, 
and  this  only  after  their  nature  has  been  perverted  and 
demonized  by  vice.  To  all  others  it  is  an  obligation 
which  amply  repays  itself.  The  affection  between  parent 
and  child  in  every  well-ordered  house  sweetens  the  toil 
that  often  falls  so  heavily  on  the  elders ;  while  the 
pleasure  of  seeing  their  children  filling  stations  of 
respectability  and  usefulness,  and  the  enjoyment  of  their 
affection,  even  after  they  have  gone  out  into  the  world, 
amply  repay  their  past  labours,  and  greatly  enrich  the 
joys  of  life. 

We  advance  to  the  relation  of  the  rich  to  the 
poor,  especially  of  those  who  are  born  to  riches  to 
those  who  are  born  to  obscurity  and  toil.  Had  the 
providence  of  God  no  purpose  in  this  arrangement  ? 
You  who  come  into  the  world  amid  luxury  and  splen- 
dour, who  have  never  required  to  work  for  a  single 
comfort,  who  have  the  means  of  gratifying  expensive 
tastes,  and  who  grudge  no  expenditure  on  the  objects 
of  your  fancy  : — was  it  meant  that  you  were  to  sustain 
no  relation  of  help  and  S3^mpathy  to  the  poor,  especially 
your  neighbours,  your  tenants,  or  your  workpeople  ? 
Do  you  fulfil  the  obligations  of  life  when,  pouring  into 
your  coffers  the  fruits  of  other  men's  toil,  you  hurry 
off  to  the  resorts  of  wealth  and  fashion,  intent  only  on 
your  own  enjoyment,  and  without  a  thought  of  the 
toiling  multitude  you  leave  at  home  ?  Is  it  right  of 
you  to  leave  deserving  people  to  fall  perad venture  into 
starvation  and  despair,  without  so  much  as  turning  a 
finger  to  prevent  it  ?  What  are  you  doing  for  the 
widows  and  orphans  ?  Selfish  and  sinful  beings  !  let 
these  old  Hebrews  read  you  a  lesson  of  condemnation  ! 


76  THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 

They  could  not  selfishly  enjoy  their  comfortable  homes 
till  they  had  done  their  part  on  behalf  of  their  brethren, 
for  wherever  there  is  a  brotherly  heart  a  poor  brother's 
welfare  is  as  dear  as  one's  own. 

Then  there  is  the  case  of  nations,  and  pre-eminently 
of  our  own.  Some  races  attain  to  civilization,  and 
order,  and  good  government  sooner  than  others.  They 
have  all  the  benefit  of  settled  institutions  and  enlightened 
opinion,  of  discoveries  in  the  arts  and  sciences,  and  of 
the  manifold  comforts  and  blessings  with  which  life  is 
thus  enriched,  while  other  nations  are  sunk  in  barbarism 
and  convulsed  by  disorder.  But  how  much  more  prone 
are  such  nations  to  claim  the  rights  of  superiority  than 
to  play  the  part  of  the  elder  brother  I  We  are  thankful 
for  the  great  good  that  has  been  done  in  India,  and  in 
other  countries  controlled  by  the  older  nations.  But 
even  in  the  case  of  India,  how  many  have  gone  there 
not  to  benefit  the  natives,  but  with  the  hope  of  enriching 
themselves.  How  ready  have  many  been  to  indulge 
their  own  vices  at  the  cost  of  the  natives,  and  how  little 
has  it  pained  them  to  see  them  becoming  the  slaves  of 
new  vices  that  have  sunk  them  lower  than  before.  Our 
Indian  opium  traffic,  and  our  drink  traffic  generally 
among  native  races — what  is  their  testimony  to  our 
brotherly  feeling  ?  What  are  we  to  think  of  the  white 
traders  among  the  South  Sea  islands,  stealing  and 
robbing  and  murdering  their  feebler  fellow-creatures  ? 
What  are  we  to  think  of  the  traffic  in  slaves,  and  the 
inconceivable  brutalities  with  which  it  is  carried  on  ? 
Or  what  are  we  to  think  of  our  traders  at  home,  sending 
out  in  almost  uncountable  profusion  the  rum,  and  the 
gin,  and  the  other  drinks  by  which  the  poor  weak 
natives  are  at  once  enticed,  enslaved,  and  destroyed  ? 
Is  there  any  development  in  selfishness  that  has  ever 


i.  I0-I8.]    JOSHUA'S  CHARGE  TO    THE  PEOPLE,  77 

been  heard  of  more  heartless  and  horrible  ?  Why  can't 
they  let  them  alone,  if  they  will  not  try  to  benefit  them  ? 
What  can  come  to  any  man  in  the  end  but  the  well- 
merited  punishment  of  those  who  out  of  sheer  greed 
have  made  miserable  savages  tenfold  more  the  children 
of  hell  than  before  ? 

We  pass  over  the  case  of  the  early  settlers  in 
colonies,  because  there  is  hardly  any  obligation  more 
generally  recognised  than  that  of  such  settlers  to  lend 
a  helping  hand  to  new  arrivals.  We  go  on  to  the  case 
of  Churches.  The  light  of  saving  truth  has  come  to 
some  lands  before  others.  We  in  this  country  have 
had  our  Christianity  for  centuries,  and  in  these  recent 
years  have  had  so  lively  a  dispensation  of  the  gospel  of 
Christ  that  many  have  felt  more  than  ever  His  power 
to  forgive,  to  comfort,  to  lift  us  up  and  bless  us. 
Have  we  no  duty  to  those  parts  of  the  earth  which  are 
still  in  the  shadow  of  death  ?  If  we  are  not  actually 
settled  in  the  Promised  Land,  we  are  as  good  as  settled, 
because  we  have  the  Divine  promise,  and  we  believe  in 
that  promise.  But  what  of  those  who  are  yet  ^*  without 
Christ,  alienated  from  the  commonwealth  of  Israel,  and 
strangers  to  the  covenants  of  promise,  having  no  hope, 
and  without  God  in  the  world  "  ?  Have  we  no  respon- 
sibility for  them  ?  Have  we  no  interest  in  that  Divine 
plan  which  seeks  to  use  those  who  first  receive  the 
light  as  instruments  of  imparting  it  to  the  rest  ? 
Infidels  object  that  Christianity  cannot  be  of  God, 
because  if  Christianity  furnishes  the  only  Divine  remedy 
for  sin  it  would  have  been  diffused  as  widely  as  the 
evil  for  which  it  is  the  cure.  Our  reply  is,  that  God's 
plan  is  to  give  the  light  first  to  some,  and  to  charge 
them  to  give  it  freely  and  cordially  to  others.  We  say, 
moreover,  that  this  plan  is  a  wholesome  one  for  those 


78  THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 


who  are  called  to  work  it,  because  it  draws  out  and 
strengthens  what  is  best  and  noblest  in  them,  and 
because  it  tends  to  form  very  loving  bonds  between 
those  who  give  and  those  who  get  the  benefit.  But 
what  if  the  first  recipients  of  the  light  fold  their  hands, 
content  to  have  got  the  blessing  themselves,  and 
decline  to  do  their  part  in  sending  it  to  the  rest  ? 
Surely  there  is  here  no  ordinary  combination  of  sins  ! 
Indolence  and  selfishness  at  the  root,  and,  with  these, 
a  want  of  all  public  spirit  and  beneficent  activity  ;  and, 
moreover,  not  mere  neglect  but  contempt  of  the  Divine 
plan  by  which  God  has  sought  the  universal  diffusion 
of  the  blessing.  Again  we  say,  look  to  these  men  of 
Reuben,  Gad,  and  Manasseh.  They  were  not  the  elite 
of  the  race  of  Israel.  Their  fathers,  at  least  in  the  case 
of  Reuben  and  Dan,  were  not  among  the  more  honoured 
of  the  sons  of  Jacob.  And  yet '  they  had  the  grace  to 
think  of  their  brethren,  when  so  many  among  us  are 
utterly  careless  of  ours.  And  not  only  to  think  of 
them,  but  to  go  over  the  Jordan  and  fight  for  them, 
possibly  die  for  them  ;  nor  would  they  think  of  return- 
ing to  the  comfort  of  their  homes  till  they  had  seen 
their  brethren  in  the  west  settled  in  theirs. 

And  this  readiness  of  Reuben,  Gad,  and  the  half-tribe 
of  Manasseh  to  fulfil  the  engagement  under  which 
they  had  come  to  Moses,  was  not  the  only  gratifying 
occurrence  which  Joshua  met  with  on  announcing  the 
impending  crossing  of  the  Jordan.  For  the  whole 
people  declared  very  cordially  their  acceptance  of 
Joshua  as  their  leader,  vowed  to  him  the  most  explicit 
fidelity,  declared  their  purpose  to  pay  him  the  same 
honour  as  they  had  paid  to  Moses,  and  denounced  a 
sentence  of  death  against  any  one  that  would  not 
hearken  to  his  words  in  all  that  he  commanded  them. 


i.  I0-I8.]    JOSHUA'S   CHARGE   TO    THE  PEOPLE.  79 

Joshua,  in  fact,  obtained  from  them  a  promise  of 
loyalty  beyond  what  they  had  ever  given  to  Moses  till 
close  on  his  death.  It  was  the  great  trial  of  Moses 
that  the  people  so  habitually  complained  of  him  and 
worried  him,  embittering  his  life  by  ascribing  to  him  even 
the  natural  hardships  of  the  wilderness,  as  well  as  the 
troubles  that  sprang  directly  from  their  sins.  It  is  the 
unwillingness  of  his  people  to  trust  him,  after  all  he  has 
sacrificed  for  them,  that  gives  such  a  pathetic  interest 
to  the  life  of  Moses,  and  makes  him,  more  than  perhaps 
any  other  Old  Testament  prophet,  so  striking  an 
example  of  unrequited  affection.  After  crossing  the 
Red  Sea,  all  the  marvels  of  that  deliverance  from 
Pharaoh  of  which  he  had  been  the  instrument  are 
swallowed  up  and  forgotten  by  the  little  inconveniences 
of  the  journey.  And  afterwards,  when  they  are 
doomed  to  the  forty  years'  wandering,  they  are  ready 
enough  to  blame  him  for  it,  forgetting  how  he  fell 
down  before  God  and  pled  for  them  when  God 
threatened  to  destroy  them.  Moreover,  his  enactments 
against  the  idolatry  they  loved  so  well  made  him  any- 
thing but  popular,  to  say  nothing  of  the  burdensome 
ceremonial  which  he  enjoined  them  to  observe.  The 
time  of  real  lo3^alty  to  Moses  was  just  the  little  period 
before  Ihis  death,  when  he  led  them  against  Sihon 
and  Og,  and  a  great  stretch  of  fertile  and  beautiful 
land  fell  into  their  hands.  Moses  had  just  gained 
the  greatest  victory  of  his  life,  he  had  just  become 
master  of  the  hearts  of  his  people,  when  he  was  called 
away.  For  Moses  at  last  did  gain  the  people's  hearts, 
and  those  to  whom  Joshua  appealed  could  say  without 
irony  or  sarcasm,  '' According  as  we  hearkened  unto 
Moses  in  all  things,  so  will  we  hearken  unto  thee." 

In  point  of  fact  a  great  change  had  been  effected  on 


8o  THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 


the  people  at  last.  Moses  had  laboured,  and  Joshua 
now  entered  into  his  labours.  The  same  thing  has 
often  occuiTed  in  history,  and  notably  in  our  own.  In 
civil  life  how  much  do  Vv^e  owe  to  the  noble  champions 
of  freedom  of  other  days,  through  whose  patriotism, 
courage,  and  self-denial  the  hard  fight  was  fought  and 
the  victory  won  that  enables  us  to  sit  under  our  vine 
and  under  our  fig  tree.  In  ecclesiastical  life  was  it 
not  the  blood  of  the  martyrs  and  the  struggles  of  those 
of  whom  the  world  was  not  worthy,  who  wandered  in 
deserts  and  in  mountains  and  in  dens  and  caves  of  the 
earth,  that  won  for  us  the  freedom  and  the  peace  in 
which  we  now  rejoice  ?  What  blessings  we  owe  to 
those  that  have  gone  before  us  1  And  how  can  we 
better  discharge  our  obligations  to  them  than  by  hasten- 
ing to  the  aid  of  those  who  have  but  emerged  from 
the  period  of  struggle  and  suffering,  like  the  Christians 
of  Madagascar  or  of  Uganda,  whose  fearful  sufferings 
and  awful  deaths  under  the  merciless  rule  of  heathen 
kings  made  Christendom  stand  aghast,  and  drew  a 
wail  of  anguish  from  her  bosom  ? 

The  unanimity  of  the  people  in  their  loyalty  to 
Joshua  is  a  touching  sight.  So  far  as  appears  there 
was  not  one  discordant  note  in  that  harmonious  burst 
of  loyalty.  No  Korah,  Dathan,  or  Abiram  rose  up  to 
decline  his  rule  and  embarrass  him  in  his  new  position. 
It  is  a  beautiful  sight,  the  united  loyalty  of  a  great 
nation.  Nothing  more  beautiful  has  ever  been  known 
in  the  long  reign  of  Queen  Victoria  than  the  crowding 
of  her  people  in  hundreds  of  thousands  to  witness  her 
procession  to  St.  Paul's  on  that  morning  when  she 
went  to  return  thanks  for  the  rescue  of  her  eldest  son 
from  the  very  jaws  of  death.  Not  one  discordant  note 
was  uttered,  not  one  disloyal  feeling  was  known  ;  the 


i.  10-18.]    JOSHUA'S  CHARGE   TO    THE  PEOPLE.  81 

vast  multitude  were  animated  by  the  spirit  of  sympathy 
and  affection  for  one  who  had  tried  to  do  her  duty  as  a 
queen  and  as  a  mother.  It  was  a  sight  not  unHke  to 
this  that  was  seen  in  the  streets  of  New  York  at  the 
centennial  celebration  of  the  .inauguration  of  George 
Washington  as  first  President  of  the  United  States. 
One  was  thrilled  by  the  thought  that  not  only  the 
multitude  that  thronged  the  streets,  but  the  represen- 
tatives of  the  whole  nation,  gathered  in  their  churches 
throughout  the  land,  were  animated  by  a  common 
sentiment  of  gratitude  to  the  man  whose  wisdom  and 
courage  had  laid  the  foundation  of  all  the  prosperity 
and  blessing  of  the  last  hundred  years.  Are  not  such 
scenes  the  pattern  of  that  spirit  of  loyalty  which  the 
entire  race  of  man  owes  to  Him  who  by  His  blood 
redeemed  the  world,  and  whose  rule  and  influence,  if 
the  world  would  but  accept  of  it,  are  so  beneficent  and 
so  blessed  ?  Yet  how  far  are  we  from  such  a  state  ! 
How  few  are  the  hearts  that  throb  with  true  loyalty 
to  the  Saviour,  and  whose  most  fervent  aspiration  for 
the  world  is,  that  it  would  only  throw  down  its  weapons 
of  rebellion,  and  give  to  him  its  hearty  allegiance  I 
Strange  that  the  Old  Testament  Joshua  should  have 
got  at  once  what  eighteen  hundred  years  have  failed 
to  bring  to  the  New  Testament  Jesus  !  God  hasten 
the  day  of  universal  light  and  universal  love,  when  He 
shall  reign  from  sea  to  sea,  and  from  the  river  to  the 
ends  of  the  earth  ! 

"  One  song  employs  all  nations,  and  all  cry 
'  Worthy  the  Lamb,  for  He  was  slain  for  us ' ! 
The  dwellers  in  the  vales  and  on  the  rocks 
Shout  to  each  other,  and  the  mountain  tops 
From  distant  mountains  catch  the  flying  joy, 
Till  nation  after  nation  taught  the  strain 
Larth  rolls  the  rapturous  Hosanna  round." 


CHAPTER  VII. 

THE  SPIES  IN  JERICHO. 
Joshua  ii. 

IT  was  not  long  ere  Joshua  found  an  occasion  not 
only  for  the  exercise  of  that  courage  to  which  he 
had  been  so  emphatically  called  both  by  God  and  the 
people,  but  for  calling  on  others  to  practise  the  same 
manly  virtue.  For  the  duty  which  he  laid  on  the  two 
spies — detectives  we  should  now  call  them — to  enter 
Jericho  and  bring  a  report  of  its  condition,  was  perhaps 
the  most  perilous  to  which  it  was  possible  for  men  to 
be  called.  It  was  like  sending  them  into  a  den  of 
lions,  and  expecting  them  to  return  safe  and  sound. 
Evidently  he  was  happy  in  finding  two  men  ready  for 
the  duty  and  the  risk.  Young  men  they  are  called 
further  on  (vi.  23),  and  it  is  quite  likely  that  they  were 
leading  men  in  their  tribes.  No  doubt  they  might 
disguise  themselves,  they  might  divest  themselves  of 
anything  in  dress  that  was  characteristically  Hebrew, 
they  might  put  on  the  clothes  of  neighbouring  peasants, 
and  carry  a  basket  of  produce  for  sale  in  the  city  ; 
and  as  for  language,  they  might  be  able  to  use  the 
Canaanite  dialect  and  imitate  the  Canaanite  accent. 
But  if  they  did  try  any  such  disguise,  they  must  have 
known  that  it  would  be  of  doubtful  efficacy  ;  the  officials 
of  Jericho  could  not  fail  to  be  keenly  on  the  watch,  and 

82 


ii.]  THE  SPIES  IN  JERICHO.  %:^ 

no  disguise  could  hide  the  Hebrew  features,  or  divest 
them  wholly  of  the  air  of  foreigners.  Nevertheless  the 
two  men  had  courage  for  the  risky  enterprise.  Doubt- 
less it  was  the  courage  that  sprang  from  faith  ;  it  was 
in  God's  service  they  went,  and  God's  protection  would 
not  fail  them.  To  be  able  to  find  agents  so  willing 
and  so  suitable  was  a  proof  to  Joshua  that  God  had 
already  begun  to  fulfil  His  promises. 

Joshua  had  been  a  spy  himself,  and  it  was  natural 
enough  that  he  should  think  of  the  same  mode  of  re- 
connoitring the  country,  now  that  they  were  again  on 
the  eve  of  making  the  entrance  into  it  which  they 
should  have  made  nearly  forty  years  before.  There  is 
no  reason  to  think  that  in  taking  this  step  Joshua  acted 
presumptuously,  proceeding  on  his  own  counsel  when 
he  should  have  sought  counsel  of  God.  For  Joshua 
might  rightly  infer  that  he  ought  to  take  this  course 
inasmuch  as  it  had  been  followed  before  with  God's 
approval  in  the  case  of  the  twelve.  Its  purpose  was 
twofold — to  obtain  information  and  confirmation.  In- 
formation as  to  the  actual  condition  and  spirit  of  the 
Canaanites,  as  to  the  view  they  took  of  the  approach- 
ing invasion  of  the  Israelites,  and  the  impression  that 
had  been  made  on  them  by  all  the  remarkable  things 
that  had  happened  in  the  desert ;  and  confirmation, 
— new  proof  for  his  own  people  that  God  was  with 
them,  fresh  encouragement  to  go  up  bravely  to  the 
attack,  and  fresh  assurance  that  not  one  word  would 
ever  fail  them  of  all  the  things  which  the  Lord  had 
promised. 

We  follow  the  two  men  as  they  leave  Shittim,  so 
named  from  the  masses  of  bright  acacia  which  shed  their 
glory  over  the  plain  ;  then  cross  the  river  at  '^  the  fords," 
which,  flooded  though  they  were,  were  still  practicable  for 


84  THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 

swimmers ;  enter  the  gates  of  Jericho,  and  move  along 
the  streets.  In  such  a  city  as  Jericho,  and  among  such 
an  immoral  people  as  the  Canaanites,  it  was  not  strange 
that  they  should  fall  in  with  a  woman  of  Rahab's 
occupation,  and  should  receive  an  invitation  to  her 
house.  Some  commentators  have  tried  to  make  out 
that  she  was  not  so  bad  as  she  is  represented,  but  only 
an  innkeeper ;  but  the  meaning  of  the  word  both  here 
and  as  translated  in  Heb.  xi.  and  James  ii.  is  beyond 
contradiction.  Others  have  supposed  that  she  was  one 
of  the  harlot-priestesses  of  Ashtoreth,  but  in  that  case 
she  would  have  had  her  dwelling  in  the  precincts  of  a 
temple,  not  in  an  out-of-the-way  place  on  the  walls 
of  the  city.  We  are  to  remember  that  in  the  degraded 
condition  of  public  opinion  in  Canaan,  as  indeed  much 
later  in  the  case  of  the  Hetairai  of  Athens,  her  occupa- 
tion was  not  regarded  as  disgraceful,  neither  did  it 
banish  her  from  her  family,  nor  break  up  the  bonds  of 
interest  and  affection  between  them,  as  it  must  do  in 
every  moral  community.-^  It  was  not  accompanied  with 
that  self-contempt  and  self-loathing  which  in  other 
circumstances  are  its  fruits.  We  may  quite  easily 
understand  how  the  spies  might  enter  her  house  simply 

*  It  is  somewhat  remarkable  that  the  present  village  of  Riha,  at 
or  near  the  site  of  the  ancient  Jericho,  is  noted  for  its  licentiousness. 
The  men,  it  is  said,  wink  at  the  infidelity  of  the  women,  a  trait  of 
character  singularly  at  variance  with  the  customs  of  the  Bedouin, 
"  At  our  encampment  over  'Ain  Terabeh  (says  Robinson)  the  night 
before  we  reached  this  place,  we  overheard  our  Arabs  asking  the 
Khatib  for  a  paper  or  written  charm  to  protect  them  from  the 
women  of  Jericho ;  and  from  their  conversation  it  seemed  that  illicit 
intercourse  between  the  latter  and  strangers  that  come  here  is 
regarded  as  a  matter  of  course.  Strange  that  the  inhabitants  of  the 
valley  should  have  retained  this  character  from  the  earliest  ages ;  and 
that  the  sins  of  Sodom  and  Gomorrah  should  still  flourish  upon  the 
same  accursed  soil."—"  Researches  in  Palestine,"  i,  553. 


ii.]  THE  SPIES  IN  JERICHO.  85 

for  the  purpose  of  getting  the  information  they  desired, 
as  modern  detectives  when  tracking  out  crime  so  often 
find  it  necessary  to  win  the  confidence  and  worm  out 
tlie  secrets  of  members  of  the  same  wretched  class. 
But  the  emissaries  of  Joshua  were  in  too  serious  peril, 
in  too  devout  a  mood,  and  in  too  high-strung  a  state 
of  nerve  to  be  at  the  mercy  of  any  Delilah  that  might 
wish  to  lure  them  to  careless  pleasure.  Their  faith, 
their  honour,  their  patriotism,  and  their  regard  to  their 
leader  Joshua,  all  demanded  the  extremest  circumspec- 
tion and  self-control ;  they  were,  like  Peter,  walking  on 
the  sea  ;  unless  they  kept  their  eye  on  their  Divine 
protector,  their  courage  and  presence  of  mind  would 
fail  them,  they  would  be  at  the  mercy  of  their  foes. 

Whether  disguised  or  not,  the  two  men  had  evidently 
been  noticed  and  suspected  when  they  entered  the  city, 
which  they  seem  to  have  done  in  the  dusk  of  evening. 
But,  happily  for  them,  the  streets  of  Jericho  were  not 
patrolled  by  policemen  ready  to  pounce  on  suspicious 
persons,  and  run  them  in  for  judicial  examination. 
The  king  or  burgomaster  of  the  place  seems  to  have 
been  the  only  person  with  whom  it  lay  to  deal  with 
them.  Whoever  had  detected  them,  after  following 
them  to  Rahab's  house,  had  then  to  resort  to  the  king's 
residence  and  give  their  information  to  him.  Rahab 
had  an  inkling  of  what  was  Hkely  to  follow,  and  being 
determined  to  save  the  men,  she  hid  them  on  the  roof 
of  the  house,  and  covered  them  with  stalks  of  flax, 
stored  there  for  domestic  use.  When,  after  some 
interval,  the  king's  messengers  came,  commanding  her 
to  bring  them  forth  since  they  were  Israelites  come  to 
search  the  city,  she  was  ready  with  her  plausible  tale. 
Two  men  had  indeed  come  to  her,  but  she  could  not 
tell  w^ho  they  were, — it  was  no  business  of  hers  to  be 


86  THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 

inquisitive  about  them  ;  the  men  had  left  just  before 
the  gates  were  shut,  and  doubtless,  if  they  were  alert 
and  pursued  after  them,  they  would  overtake  them,  for 
they  could  not  be  far  off.  The  king's  messengers  had 
not  half  the  wit  of  the  woman  ;  they  took  her  at  her 
word,  made  no  search  of  her  house,  but  set  out  on  the 
wild-goose  chase  on  which  she  had  sent  them.  Sense 
and  spirit  failed  them  alike. 

We  are  not  prepared  for  the  remarkable  development 
of  her  faith  that  followed.  This  first  Canaanite  across 
the  Jordan  with  whom  the  Israelites  met  was  no  ordi- 
nary person.  Rays  of  Divine  light  had  entered  that 
unhallowed  soul,  not  to  be  driven  back,  not  to  be  hidden 
under  a  bushel,  but  to  be  welcomed,  and  ultimately 
improved  and  followed.  Our  minds  are  carried  forward 
to  what  was  so  impressive  in  the  days  of  our  Lord,  when 
the  publicans  and  the  harlots  entered  into  the  kingdom 
before  the  scribes  and  the  pharisees.  We  are  called 
to  admire  the  riches  of  the  grace  of  God,  who  does  not 
scorn  the  moral  leper,  but  many  a  time  lays  His  hand 
upon  him,  and  says  ''  I  will,  be  thou  clean."  *'  They 
shall  come  from  the  east,  and  from  the  west,  and  from 
the  north,  and  from  the  south,  and  shall  enter  into  the 
kingdom  of  heaven  ;  but  the  children  of  the  kingdom 
shall  be  cast  into  outer  darkness  ;  there  shall  be  weep- 
ing and  gnashing  of  teeth." 

In  the  first  place,  Rahab  made  a  most  explicit  con- 
fession of  her  faith,  not  only  in  Jehovah  as  the  God 
of  the  Hebrews,  but  in  Him  as  the  one  only  God  of 
heaven  and  earth.  It  would  have  been  nothing  had 
she  been  wiUing  to  give  to  the  Hebrew  God  a  place, 
a  high  place,  or  even  the  highest  place  among  the  gods. 
Her  faith  went  much  further.  *'  The  Lord  your  God, 
He  is   God  in   heaven   above   and   in  earth   beneath." 


ii.]  THE  SPIES  IN  JERICHO.  87 

This  is  an  exclusive  faith — Baal  and  Ashtoreth  are 
nowhere.  What  a  remarkable  conviction  to  take  hold 
of  such  a  mind  !  All  the  traditions  of  her  youth,  all 
the  opinions  of  her  neighbours,  all  the  terrors  of  her 
priests  set  at  nought,  swept  clean  off  the  board,  in  face 
of  the  overwhelming  evidence  of  the  sole  Godhead  of 
Jehovah  1 

Again,  she  explained  the  reason  for  this  faith.  ''We 
have  heard  how  the  Lord  dried  up  the  water  of  the 
Red  Sea  for  you,  when  ye  came  out  of  Egypt ;  and 
what  ye  did  unto  the  two  kings  of  the  Amorites,  that 
were  on  the  other  side  Jordan,  Sihon  and  Og,  whom 
ye  utterly  destroyed."  The  woman  has  had  an  eye  to 
see  and  an  ear  to  hear.  She  has  not  gazed  in  stupid 
amazement  on  the  marvellous  tokens  of  Divine  power 
displayed  before  the  world,  nor  accepted  the  sophistry 
of  sceptics  referring  all  these  marvels  to  accidental 
thunderstorms  and  earthquakes  and  high  winds.  She 
knew  better  than  to  suppose  that  a  nation  of  slaves 
by  their  own  resources  could  have  eluded  all  the  might 
of  Pharaoh,  subsisted  for  forty  years  in  the  wilderness, 
and  annihilated  the  forces  of  such  renowned  potentates 
as  Sihon  and  Og.  She  was  no  philosopher,  and  could 
not  have  reasoned  on  the  doctrine  of  causation,  but  her 
common  sense  taught  her  that  you  cannot  have  extra- 
ordinary effects  without  corresponding  causes.  It  is  one 
of  the  great  weaknesses  of  modern  unbelief  that  with 
all  its  pretensions  to  philosophy,  it  is  constantly  accept- 
ing effects  without  an  adequate  cause.  Jesus  Christ, 
though  He  revolutionized  the  world,  though  He  founded 
an  empire  to  which  that  of  the  Caesars  is  not  for  a 
moment  to  be  compared,  though  all  that  were  about 
Him  admitted  His  supernatural  power  and  person,  after 
all,    was    nothing    but    a    man.     The    gospel  that   has 


THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 


brought  peace  and  joy  to  so  many  weary  hearts,  that  has 
transformed  the  slaves  of  sin  into  children  of  heaven, 
that  has  tmiied  cannibals  into  saints,  and  fashioned 
so  many  an  angelic  character  out  of  the  rude  blocks  of 
humanity,  is  but  a  cunningly  devised  fable.  What 
contempt  for  such  sophistries,  such  vain  explanations 
of  facts  patent  to  all  would  this  poor  woman  have 
shown  !  How  does  she  rebuke  the  many  that  keep 
pottering  in  poor  natural  explanations  of  plain  super- 
natural facts,  instead  of  manfully  admitting  that  it  is 
the  Arm  of  God  that  has  been  revealed,  and  the  Voice 
of  God   that   has   spoken  ! 

Further,  Rahab  informed  the  spies  that  when  they 
heard  these  things  the  inhabitants  of  the  land  had  become 
faint,  their  hearts  melted,  and  there  remained  no  more 
courage  in  them  because  of  the  Israelites.  For  they  felt 
that  the  tremendous  Power  that  had  desolated  Egypt 
and  dried  up  the  sea,  that  had  crushed  Sihon  King 
of  the  Amorites  and  Og  King  of  Bashan  like  nuts 
under  the  feet  of  a  giant,  was  now  close  upon  them- 
selves. What  could  they  do  to  arrest  the  march  of 
such  a  power,  and  avert  the  ruin  which  it  was  sure  to 
inflict  ?  They  had  neither  resource  nor  refuge — their 
hearts  melted  in  them.  It  is  when  Divine  Power  draws 
near  to  men,  or  when  men  draw  near  to  Divine  Power 
that  they  get  the  right  measure  of  its  dimensions  and' 
the  right  sense  of  their  own  impotence.  Caligula  could 
scoff  at  the  gods  at  a  distance,  but  in  any  calamity  no 
man  was  more  prostrate  with  terror.  It  is  easy  for 
the  atheist  or  the  agnostic  to  assume  a  bold  front  when 
God  is  far  off,  but  woe  betide  him  when  He  draws  near 
in  war,  in  pestilence,  or  in  death ! 

If  we  ask.  How  could  Rahab  have  such  a  faith  and 
yet  be  a  harlot  ?  or  how  could  she  have  such  faith  in 


ii.]  -  THE  SPIES  IN  JERICHO.  89 

God  and  yet  utter  that  tissue  of  falsehoods  about  the 
spies  with  which  she  deluded  the  messengers  of  the 
king  ?  we  answer  that  light  comes  but  gradually 
and  slowly  to  persons  like  Rahab.  The  conscience  is 
but  gradually  enlightened.  How  many  men  have  been 
slaveholders  after  they  were  Christians  I  Worse  than 
that,  did  not  the  godly  John  Newton,  one  of  the  two 
authors  of  the  Olney  hymns,  continue  for  some  time 
in  the  slave  trade,  conveying  cargoes  of  his  fellow- 
creatures  stolen  from  their  homes,  before  he  awoke  to 
to  a  sense  of  its  infamy  ?  Are  there  no  persons 
among  us  calling  themselves  Christians  engaged  in 
traffic  that  brings  awful  destruction  to  the  bodies  and 
souls  of  their  fellow-men  ?  That  Rahab  should  have 
continued  as  she  was  after  she  threw  in  her  lot  with 
God's  people  is  inconceivable ;  but  there  can  be  no 
doubt  how  she  was  living  when  she  first  comes  into 
Bible  history.  And  as  to  her  falsehoods,  though  some 
have  excused  lying  when  practised  in  order  to  save 
life,  we  do  not  vindicate  her  on  that  ground.  All  false- 
hood, especially  what  is  spoken  to  those  who  have  a 
right  to  trust  us,  must  be  offensive  to  the  God  of  truth, 
and  the  nearer  men  get  to  the  Divine  image,  through  the 
growing  closeness  of  their  Divine  fellowship,  the  more 
do  they  recoil  from  it.  Rahab  was  yet  in  the  outermost 
circle  of  the  Church,  just  touching  the  boundary ;  the 
nearer  she  got  to  the  centre  the  more  would  she  recoil 
alike  from  the  foulness  and  the  falseness  of  her  early 
years. 

We  have  to  notice  further  in  Rahab  a  determination 
to  throw  in  her  lot  with  the  people  of  God.  In  spirit 
she  had  ceased  to  be  a  Canaanite  and  become  an 
Israelite.  She  showed  this  by  taking  the  side  of  the 
spies  against  the  king,  and  exposing  herself  to  certain 


90  THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 

and  awful  punishment  if  it  had  been  found  out  that 
they  were  in  her  house.  And  her  confidential  conver- 
sation with  them  before  she  sent  them  away,  her  cordial 
recognition  of  their  God,  her  expression  of  assurance 
that  the  land  would  be  theirs,  and  her  request  for  the 
protection  of  herself  and  her  relations  when  the  Israelites 
should  become  masters  of  Jericho,  all  indicated  one 
who  desired  to  renounce  the  fellowship  of  her  own 
people  and  cast  in  her  lot  with  the  children  of  God. 
That  she  was  wholly  blameless  in  the  way  in  which 
she  went  about  this,  in  favouring  the  spies  against  her 
own  nation  in  this  underhand  way,  we  will  not  affirm  ; 
but  one  cannot  look  for  a  high  sense  of  honour  in  such 
a  woman.  Still,  whatever  may  be  said  against  her,  the 
fact  of  her  remarkable  faith  remains  conspicuous  and 
beyond  dispute,  all  the  more  striking,  too,  that  she  is 
the  last  person  in  whom  we  should  have  expected  to 
find  anything  of  the  kind.  That  faith  beyond  doubt 
was  destined  to  expand  and  fructify  in  her  heart,  giving 
birth  to  virtues  and  graces  that  made  her  after  life  a 
great  contrast  to  what  it  had  been.  No  doubt  the 
words  of  the  Apostle  might  afterwards  have  been  applied 
to  her — "  Such  were  some  of  you  :  but  ye  are  washed, 
but  ye  are  sanctified,  but  ye  are  justified  in  the  name  of 
the  Lord  Jesus,  and  by  the  Spirit  of  the  Lord." 

And  yet,  though  her  faith  may  at  this  time  have  been 
but  as  a  grain  of  mustard  seed,  we  see  two  effects  of 
it  that  are  not  to  be  despised.  One  was  her  protection 
of  the  Lord's  people,  as  represented  by  the  spies  ;  the 
other  was  her  concern  for  her  own  relations.  Father, 
mother,  brothers,  and  sisters  and  all  that  they  had, 
were  dear  to  her,  and  she  took  measures  for  their 
safety  when  the  destruction  of  Jericho  should  come. 
She   exacted  an  oath  of  the   two   spies,   and  asked  a 


ii.]  THE  SPIES  IN  JERICHO.  91 

pledge  of  them,  that  they  would  all  be  spared  when 
the  crisis  of  the  city  arrived.  And  the  men  passed  their 
oath  and  arranged  for  the  protection  of  the  family. 
No  doubt  it  may  be  said  that  it  was  only  their  temporal 
welfare  about  which  she  expressed  concern,  and  for 
which  she  made  provision.  But  what  more  could  she 
have  been  expected  to  do  at  that  moment  ?  What 
more  could  the  two  spies  have  engaged  to  secure  ?  It 
was  plain  enough  that  if  they  were  ever  to  obtain 
further  benefit  from  fellowship  with  God's  people,  their 
lives  must  be  preserved  in  the  first  instance  from 
the  universal  destruction  which  was  impending.  Her 
anxiety  for  her  family,  like  her  anxiety  for  herself, 
may  even  then  have  begun  to  extend  beyond  things 
seen  and  temporal,  and  a  fair  vision  of  peace  and  joy 
may  have  begun  to  flit  across  her  fancy  at  the  thought 
of  the  vile  and  degrading  idolatry  of  the  Canaanites 
being  displaced  in  them  by  the  service  of  a  God  of 
holiness  and  of  love.  But  neither  was  she  far  enough 
advanced  to  be  able  as  yet  to  give  expression  to  this 
hope,  nor  were  the  spies  the  persons  to  whom  it  would 
naturally  have  been  communicated.  The  usual  order 
in  the  Christian  life  is,  that  as  anxiety  about  ourselves 
begins  in  a  sense  of  personal  danger  and  a  desire  for 
deliverance  therefrom,  so  spiritual  anxiety  about  the 
objects  of  our  affection  has  usually  the  same  beginning. 
But  as  it  would  be  a  miserable  thing  for  the  new  life 
to  stand  still  as  soon  as  our  personal  safety  was  secured, 
so  it  would  be  a  wretched  affection  that  sought  nothing 
more  on  behalf  of  our  dearest  friends.  When,  by 
accepting  Christ,  we  get  the  blessing  of  personal  safety, 
we  only  reach  a  height  from  which  we  see  how  many 
other  things  we  need.  We  become  ashamed  of  our 
unholy  passions,  our  selfish  hearts,  our  godless  ways, 


92  THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 

and  we  aspire,  with  an  ardour  which  the  world  cannot 
understand,  to  purity  and  unselfishness  and  consecra- 
tion to  God.  For  our  friends  we  desire  the  same  ;  we 
feel  for  them  as  for  ourselves,  that  the  bondage  and 
pollution  of  sin  are  degrading,  and  that  there  can  be 
neither  peace,  nor  happiness,  nor  real  dignity  for  the 
soul  until  it  is  created  anew  after  the  image  of  God. 

Some  commentators  have  laid  considerable  stress  on 
the  line  of  scarlet  thread  that  was  to  be  displayed  in 
the  window  by  which  the  spies  had  been  let  down, 
as  a  token  and  remembrance  that  that  house  was  to  be 
spared  when  the  victorious  army  should  enter  Jericho. 
In  that  scarlet  thread  they  have  seen  an  emblem  of 
atonement,  an  emblem  of  the  blood  of  Christ  by  which 
sinners  are  redeemed.  To  us  it  seems  more  likely  that, 
in  fixing  on  this  as  the  pledge  of  safety,  the  spies  had 
in  view  the  blood  sprinkled  on  the  lintels  and  door 
posts  of  the  Hebrew  houses  in  Egypt  by  which  the 
destroying  angel  was  guided  to  pass  them  by.  The 
scarlet  rope  had  some  resemblance  to  blood,  and  for 
this  reason  its  special  purpose  might  be  more  readily 
apprehended.  Obviously  the  spies  had  no  time  to  go 
into  elaborate  explanations  at  the  moment.  It  is  to  be 
observed  that,  as  the  window  looked  to  the  outside  of 
the  city,  the  cord  would  be  observed  by  the  Israelites 
and  the  house  recognised  as  they  marched  round  and 
round,  according  to  the  instructions  of  Joshua.  Not 
a  man  of  all  the  host  but  would  see  it  again  and  again, 
as  they  performed  their  singular  march,  and  would 
mark  the  position  of  the  house  so  carefully  that  its 
inmates,  gathered  together  like  the  family  of  Noah  in 
the  ark,  would  be  preserved  in  perfect  safety. 

The   stratagem    of   Rahab,    and   the  mode  of  flight 
which  she  recommended  to  the  spies,  fruits  of  woman's 


ii.]  THE  SPIES  IN  JERICHO.  93 

ready  wit  and  intuitive  judgment,  were  both  successful. 
She  reminds  us  of  the   self-possession   of  Jael,   or  of 
Abigail,   the  wife    of  Nabal.      In  the   dark,   the   spies 
escaped  to  the  mountain, — the  rugged  rampart  which 
bounded  the  valley  of  the  Jordan  on  the  west.     Hiding 
in    its    sequestered    crevices    for    three    days,   till    the 
pursuit   of  the  Jerichonians   was    over,  they  stole   out 
under   cover  of  darkness,   recrossed  the  Jordan,   told 
Joshua   of  their  stirring  and   strange  adventure,   and 
wound  up  with  the  remark  that  the  hearts  of  the  people 
of  the  country  were  melting  because  of  them.     How 
often    is   this    true,    though    unbelief    cannot   see    it  I 
When  Jesus  told  His  disciples  that  He  beheld  Satan 
fall  as  lightning  from  heaven.  He  taught  us  that  those 
who   set   themselves  against   Him  and  His  cause  are 
fallen  powers,  no  longer  flushed  with  victory  and  hope, 
but  defeated  and  dejected,   and  consciously  unable  to 
overcome  the  heaven-aided  forces  that  are  against  them. 
Well  for  all  Christian  philanthropists  and  missionaries 
of  the  Cross,  and  brave  assailants  of  lust  and  greed 
and  vice  and  error,  to  bear  this  in  mind  I     The  cause 
of  darkness  never  can  triumph  in  the  end,  it  has  no 
power  to  rally  and  rush  against  the  truth  ;  if  only  the 
servants    of  Christ   would   be    strong   and   of  a  good 
courage,  they  too  would  find  that  the  boldest  champions 
of  the  world  do  faint  because  of  them. 

When  the  spies  return  to  Joshua  and  tell  him  all 
that  has  befallen  them,  he  accepts  their  adventure  as  a 
token  for  good.  They  have  not  given  him  any  hint 
how  Jericho  is  to  be  taken ;  but,  what  is  better,  they 
have  shown  him  that  the  outstretched  arm  of  God  has 
been  seen  by  the  heathen,  and  that  the  inhabitants  of 
the  country  are  paralysed  on  account  of  it.  The  two 
spies  were  a  great  contrast  to  the  ten  that  accompanied 


94  THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 


Joshua  and  Caleb  so  long  before  :  the  ten  declared  the 
land  unassailable  ;  the  two  looked  on  it  as  already 
conquered — ''  The  Lord  hath  delivered  into  our  hands 
all  the  land."  Children  of  Israel,  you  must  not  be 
outdone  in  faith  by  a  harlot ;  believe  that  God  is  with 
you,  go  up,  and  possess  the  land  ! 


CHAPTER   VIII. 

JORDAN   REACHED. 
Joshua  iii.   i — 7. 

THE  host  of  Israel  had  been  encamped  for  some 
time  at  Shittim  on  the  east  side  of  the  river 
Jordan.  It  is  well  to  understand  the  geographical 
position.  The  Jordan  has  its  rise  beyond  the  northern 
boundary  of  Palestine  in  three  sources,  the  most 
interesting  and  beautiful  of  the  three  being  one  in  the 
neighbourhood  of  Caesarea  Philippi.  The  three  stream- 
lets unite  in  the  little  lake  now  called  Huleh,  but 
Merom  in  Bible  times.  Issuing  from  Merom  in  a 
single  stream  the  Jordan  flows  on  to  the  lake  of  Galilee 
or  Gennesareth,  and  from  thence,  in  a  singularly  winding 
course,  to  the  Dead  Sea.  Its  course  between  the  lake 
of  Galilee  and  the  Dead  Sea  is  through  a  kind  of  ravine 
within  a  ravine  ;  the  outer  ravine  is  the  valley  or  plain 
of  Jordan,  now  called  by  the  Arabs  El  Ghor,  which  is 
about  six  miles  in  width  at  its  northern  part,  and 
considerably  more  at  its  southern,  where  the  Israelites 
now  were.  Within  this  *'E1  Ghor"  is  a  narrower  ravine 
about  three-quarters  of  a  mile  in  width,  in  the  inner 
part  of  which  flows  the  river,  its  breadth  varying  from 
twenty  to  sixty  yards.  Some  travellers  say  that  the 
Jordan  does  not  now  rise  so  high  as  formerly,  but 
others   tell  us  they  have  seen  it  overflowing  its  banks 

9S 


96  THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 

at  the  corresponding  season.  But  ''  the  plain  "  is  not 
fertiHzed  by  the  rising  waters  :  hence  the  reason  why 
the  banks  of  the  river  are  not  studded  with  towns  as  in 
Egypt.  It  is  quite  possible,  however,  that  in  the  days 
of  Abraham  and  Lot  artificial  irrigation  was  made  use 
of:  hence  the  description  given  of  it  then  that  it  was 
'Mike  the  land  of  Egypt"  (Gen.  xiii.  lo).  If  it  be 
remarked  as  strange  that  Jordan  should  have  over- 
flowed his  banks  ''in  time  of  harvest"  (Josh.  iii.  15) 
when  usually  rain  does  not  fall  in  Palestine,  it  is  to  be 
remembered  that  all  the  sources  of  the  Jordan  are 
fountains,  and  that  fountains  do  not  usually  feel  the 
effects  of  the  rain  until  some  time  after  it  has  fallen. 
The  harvest  referred  to  is  the  barley  harvest,  and  near 
Jericho  that  harvest  must  have  occurred  earlier  than 
throughout  the  country  on  account  of  the  greater  heat. 
The  host  of  Israel  lay  encamped  at  Shittim,  or  Abel 
Shittim,  "  the  meadow  or  moist  place  of  the  acacias," 
somewhere  in  the  Arboth-Moab  or  fields  of  Moab. 
The  exact  spot  is  unknown,  but  it  was  near  the  foot 
of  the  Moabite  mountains,  where  the  streams,  coming 
down  from  the  heights  on  their  way  to  the  Jordan, 
caused  a  luxuriant  growth  of  acacias,  such  as  are  still 
found  in  some  of  the  adjacent  parts.  Sunk  as  this  part 
of  the  plain  is  far  below  the  level  of  the  Mediterranean, 
and  enclosed  by  the  mountains  behind  it  as  by  the  walls 
of  a  furnace,  it  possesses  an  almost  tropical  climate 
which,  though  agreeable  enough  in  winter  and  early 
spring,  would  have  been  unbearable  to  the  Israelites  in 
the  height  of  summer.  It  was  while  Israel  "  abode 
in  Shittim,"  during  the  lifetime  of  Moses,  that  they 
were  seduced  by  the  Moabites  to  join  in  the  idolatrous 
revels  of  Baal-peor  and  punished  with  the  plague. 
The  acacia  groves  gave  facilities  for  the  unhallowed 


iii.  1-7.]  JORDAN  REACHED.  97 


revelling.  That  chastisement  had  brought  them  into 
a  better  spirit,  and  now  they  were  prepared  for  better 
things. 

The  Jordan  was  not  crossed  then  by  bridges  nor  by 
ferry  boats  ;  the  only  way  of  crossing  was  by  fords. 
The  ford  nearest  to  Jericho,  now  called  El  Mashra'a, 
is  well  known  ;  it  was  the  ford  the  Israelites  would  have 
used  had  the  river  been  fordable  ;  and  perhaps  the 
tradition  is  correct  that  there  the  crossing  actually  took 
place.  When  the  spies  crossed  and  recrossed  the 
river  it  must  have  been  by  swimming,  as  it  was  too 
deep  for  wading  at  the  time  ;  but  though  this  mode  of 
crossing  was  possible  for  individuals,  it  was  manifestly 
out  of  the  question  for  a  host.  That  the  Israelites 
could  by  no  possibility  cross  at  that  season  must  have 
been  the  forlorn  hope  of  the  people  of  Jericho  ;  possibly 
they  smiled  at  the  folly  of  Joshua  in  choosing  such 
a  time  of  the  year,  and  asked  in  derision,  How  is  he 
ever  to  get  over  ? 

The  appointed  day  for  leaving  Shittim  has  come,  and 
Joshua,  determined  to  lose  no  time,  rises  ''  early  in  the 
morning."  Nor  is  it  without  a  purpose  that  so  often 
in  the  Old  Testament  narrative,  when  men  of  might 
commence  some  great  undertaking,  we  are  told  that  it 
was  early  in  the  morning.  In  all  hot  climates  work 
in  the  open  air,  if  done  at  all,  must  be  done  early  in 
the  morning  or  in  the  evening.  But,  besides  this, 
morning  is  the  appropriate  time  for  men  of  great  energy 
and  decision  to  be  astir ;  and  it  readily  connects  itself 
with  the  New  Testament  text — ''Not  slothful  in  business, 
fervent  in  spirit,  serving  the  Lord."  The  benefits  of 
an  early  start  for  all  kinds  of  successful  work  are  in 
the  proverbs  of  all  nations ;  and  we  may  add  that  few 
have  reached  a  high  position  in  the  Christian  life  who 

7 


98  THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 


could  not  say,  in  the  spirit  of  the  hymn,  '^  early  in  the 
morning  my  song  shall  rise  to  Thee."  Nor  can  it  easily 
be  understood  how  under  other  conditions  the  precept 
could  be  fulfilled — ''  Whatsoever  thy  hand  findeth  to 
do,  do  it  with  thy  might." 

From  Shittim  to  the  banks  of  the  Jordan  is  an  easy 
journey  of  a  few  miles,  the  road  being  all  over  level 
ground,  so  that  the  march  was  probably  finished  before 
the  sun  had  risen  high.  However  strong  their  faith, 
it  could  not  be  without  a  certain  tremor  of  heart  that 
the  people  would  behold  the  swollen  river,  and  mark 
the  walls  and  towers  of  Jericho  a  few  miles  beyond. 
Three  days  are  to  be  allowed,  if  not  for  physical, 
certainly  for  moral  and  spiritual  preparation  for  the 
crossing  of  the  river.  The  three  days  are  probably  the 
same  as  those  adverted  to  before  (chap.  i.  3),  just  as 
the  order  to  select  twelve  men  to  set  up  twelve  stones 
(chap.  iii.  12)  is  probably  the  same  as  that  more  fully 
detailed  in  chap.  iv.  2.  The  host  is  assembled  in 
orderly  array  on  the  east  bank  of  the  Jordan,  when 
the  officers  pass  through  to  give  instructions  as  to  their 
further  procedure.     Three  such  instructions  are  given. 

First,  they  are  to  follow  the  ark.  Whenever  they 
see  the  priests  that  bear  it  in  motion,  they  are  to  move 
from  their  places  and  follow  it.  There  was  no  longer 
the  pillar  of  fire  to  guide  them — that  was  a  wilderness- 
symbol  of  God's  presence,  now  superseded  by  a  more 
permanent  symbol — the  ark.  Both  symbols  represented 
the  same  great  truth — the  gracious  presence  and 
guidance  of  God,  and  both  called  the  people  to  the 
same  dut}^  and  privilege,  and  to  the  same  assurance  of 
absolute  safety  so  long  as  they  followed  the  Lord. 
Familiar  sights  are  apt  to  lose  their  significance,  and 
the    people    must    have    become    so    familiar  with    the 


iii.  1-7.]  JORDAN  REACHED.  99 

wilderness-pillar  that  they  would  hardly  think  what 
it  meant.  Now  a  different  symbol  is  brought  forward. 
The  ark  carried  in  solemn  procession  by  the  priests  is 
now  the  appointed  token  of  God's  guidance,  and  there- 
fore the  object  to  be  unhesitatingly  followed.  A  blessed 
truth  for  all  time  was  clearly  shadowed  forth.  Follow 
God  implicitly  and  unhesitatingly  in  every  time  of 
danger,  and  you  are  safe.  Set  aside  the  counsels  of 
casuistry,  of  fear,  and  of  worldly  wisdom ;  find  out 
God's  will  and  follow  it  through  good  report  and 
through  evil  report,  and  you  will  be  right.  It  was  thus 
that  Joshua  and  Caleb  did,  and  counselled  the  people 
to  do,  when  they  came  back  from  exploring  the  land  ; 
and  now  these  two  were  reaping  the  benefit ;  while  the 
generation,  that  would  have  been  comfortably  settled 
in  the  land  if  they  had  done  the  same,  had  perished  in 
the  wilderness  on  account  of  their  unbelief 

Secondly,  a  span  of  two  thousand  cubits  was  to  be 
left  between  the  people  and  the  ark.  Some  have  thought 
that  this  was  designed  as  a  token  of  reverence ;  but 
this  is  not  the  reason  assigned.  Had  it  been  designed 
as  a  token  of  reverence,  it  would  have  been  prescribed 
long  before,  as  soon  as  the  ark  was  constructed,  and 
began  to  be  carried  with  the  host  through  the  wilderness. 
The  intention  was,  ''  that  ye  may  know  the  way  by 
which  you  must  go  "  (ver.  4).  If  this  arrangement  had 
not  been  made,  the  course  of  the  ark  through  the  flat 
plains  of  the  Jordan  would  not  have  been  visible  to  the 
mass  of  the  host,  but  only  to  those  in  the  immediate 
neighbourhood,  and  the  people  would  have  been  liable 
to  straggle  and  fall  into  confusion,  if  not  to  diverge 
altogether.  In  all  cases,  when  we  are  looking  out  for 
Divine  guidance,  it  is  of  supreme  importance  that  there 
be    nothing    in   the   way   to  obscure    the    object  or  to 


loo  THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 


distort  our  vision.  Alas,  how  often  is  this  direction 
disregarded  !  How  often  do  we  allow  our  prejudices, 
or  our  wishes,  or  our  worldly  interests  to  come  between 
us  and  the  Divine  direction  we  profess  to  desire !  At 
some  turn  of  our  life  we  feel  that  we  ought  not  to  take 
a  decisive  step  without  asking  guidance  from  above. 
But  our  own  wishes  bear  strongly  in  a  particular  direc- 
tion, and  we  are  only  too  prone  to  conclude  that  God 
is  in  favour  of  our  plan.  We  do  not  act  honestly ;  we 
lay  stress  on  all  that  is  in  favour  of  what  we  like ;  we 
think  little  of  considerations  of  the  opposite  kind.  And 
when  we  announce  our  decision,  if  the  matter  concern 
others,  we  are  at  pains  to  tell  them  that  we  have  made 
it  matter  of  prayer.  But  why  make  it  matter  of  prayer 
if  we  do  so  with  prejudiced  minds  ?  It  is  only  when 
our  eye  is  single  that  the  whole  body  is  full  of  light. 
This  clear  space  of  two  thousand  cubits  between  the 
people  and  the  ark  deserves  to  be  remembered.  Let 
us  have  a  like  clear  space  morally  between  us  and  God 
when  we  go  to  ask  His  counsel,  lest  peradventure  we 
not  only  mistake  His  directions,  but  bring  disaster  on 
ourselves  and  dishonour  on  His  name. 

Thirdly,  the  people  were  instructed, — ^'  Sanctify 
yourselves,  for  to-morrow  the  Lord  will  do  wonders 
among  you."  It  is  an  instinct  of  our  nature  that  when 
we  are  to  meet  with  some  one  of  superior  worldly  rank 
preparation  must  be  made  for  the  meeting.  When 
Joseph  was  summoned  into  the  presence  of  Pharaoh, 
and  they  brought  him  hastily  out  of  the  dungeon,  ^'  he 
shaved  himself,  and  changed  his  raiment,  and  came  in 
unto  Pharaoh."  The  poorest  subject  of  the  realm 
would  try  to  wear  his  best  and  to  look  his  best  in  the 
presence  of  his  sovereign.  But  while  ''  man  looketh  on 
the  outward  appearance  the  Lord  looketh  on  the  heart." 


iii.  1-7.]  JORDAN  REACHED.  "  loi 

And  our  very  instincts  teach  us,  that  the  heart  needs 
to  be  prepared  when  God  is  drawing  near.  It  is  not  in 
our  ordinary  careless  mood  that  we  ought  to  stand  before 
Him  who  ''  sets  our  iniquities  before  Him,  our  secret 
sins  in  the  Hght  of  His  countenance."  Grant  that  we  can 
neither  atone  for  our  sin,  nor  cleanse  our  hearts  without 
His  grace ;  nevertheless,  in  God's  presence  everything 
that  is  possible  ought  to  be  done  to  remove  the  abomin- 
able thing  which  He  hates,  so  that  He  may  not  be 
affronted  and  offended  by  its  presence.  Most  appropriate, 
therefore,  was  Joshua's  counsel, — ^'  Sanctify  yourselves, 
for  to-morrow  the  Lord  will  do  wonders  among  you." 
He  will  surpass  all  that  your  eyes  have  seen  since  that 
night,  much  to  be  remembered,  when  He  divided  the 
sea.  He  will  give  you  a  token  of  His  love  and  care 
that  will  amaze  you,  much  though  you  have  seen  of  it 
in  the  wilderness,  and  in  the  country  of  Sihon  and  Og. 
Expect  great  things,  prepare  for  great  things ;  and  let 
the  chief  of  your  preparations  be  to  sanctify  yourselves, 
for  ''  the  foolish  shall  not  stand  in  His  sight,  and  He 
hateth  all  workers  of  iniquity." 

Next  day  (compare  ver.  5,  ''to-morrow,"  and  ver.  7, 
''  this  day  ")  Joshua  turns  to  the  priests  and  bids  them 
''  take  up  the  ark  of  the  covenant."  The  priests  obey ; 
''they  take  up  the  ark,  and  go  before  the  people." 

Shall  we  take  notice  of  the  assertion  of  some  that  all 
those  parts  of  the  narrative  which  refer  to  priests  and 
religious  service  were  introduced  by  a  writer  bent  on 
glorifying  the  priesthood  ?  Or  must  we  repel  the 
insinuation  that  the  introduction  of  the  ark,  and  the 
miraculous  effects  ascribed  to  its  presence,  are  mere 
myths  ?  If  they  are  mere  myths,  they  are  certainly 
myths  of  a  very  peculiar  kind.  Twice  only  in  this 
book  is  the  ark  associated  with  miraculous  events — at 


102  THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 

the  crossing  of  the  Jordan  and  at  the  taking  of  Jericho. 
If  these  were  myths,  why  was  the  myth  confined  to  these 
two  occasions  ?  When  mythical  writers  find  a  remark- 
able talisman  they  introduce  it  at  all  sorts  of  times. 
Why  was  the  ark  not  brought  to  the  siege  of  Ai  ? 
Why  was  it  absent  from  the  battles  of  Bethhoron  and 
Merom  ?  Why  was  its  presence  restricted  to  the 
Jordan  and  Jericho,  unless  it  was  God's  purpose  to 
inspire  confidence  at  first  through  the  visible  symbol 
of  His  presence,  but  leave  the  people  afterwards  to 
infer  His  presence  by  faith  ? 

The  taking  up  of  the  ark  by  the  priests  was  a 
decisive  step.  There  could  be  no  resiling  now  from 
the  course  entered  on.  The  priests  with  the  ark  must 
advance,  and  it  will  be  seen  whether  Joshua  has  been 
uttering  words  without  foundation,  or  whether  he  has 
been  speaking  in  the  name  of  God.  Shall  mere  natural 
forces  be  brought  into  play,  or  shall  the  supernatural 
might  of  heaven  come  to  the  conflict,  and  show  that 
God  is  faithful  to  His  promise  ? 

Let  us  put  ourselves  in  Joshua's  position.  We  do 
not  know  in  what  manner  the  communications  were 
carried  on  between  him  and  Jehovah  of  which  we 
have  the  record  under  the  words  ''  the  Lord  spake 
unto  Joshua."  Was  it  by  an  audible  voice  ?  Or  was 
it  by  impressions  on  Joshua's  mind  of  a  kind  that  could 
not  have  originated  with  himself,  but  that  were  plainly 
the  result  of  Divine  influence  ?  In  any  case,  they  were 
such  as  to  convey  to  Joshua  a  very  clear  knowledge  of 
the  Divine  will.  Yet  even  in  the  best  of  men  nature  is 
not  so  thoroughly  subdued  in  such  circumstances  but 
that  the  shadow  of  anxiety  and  fear  is  liable  to  flit 
across  them.  They  crave  something  like  a  personal 
pledge  that  all  will  go  well.     Hence  the  seasonableness 


iii.  1-7.]  JORDAN  REACHED.  103 

of  the  assurance  now  given  to  Joshua — '^  This  day  will 
I  begin  to  magnify  thee  in  the  sight  of  all  Israel,  that 
they  may  know  that,  as  I  was  with  Moses,  so  I  will  be 
with  thee."  How  full  and  manifold  the  assurance  I 
First,  I  will  magnify  thee.  I  will  endue  thee  with 
supernatural  might,  and  that  will  give  you  authority 
and  weight,  corresponding  to  the  position  in  which  you 
stand.  Further,  this  shall  be  but  the  beginning  of  a 
process  which  will  be  renewed  as  often  as  there  is 
occasion  for  it.  ''This  day  I  will  hegitiy  You  are  not 
to  go  a  warfare  on  your  own  charges,  but  ''as  your 
days,  so  shall  your  strength  be."  Moreover,  this 
exaltation  of  your  person  and  office  will  take  place  "  in 
the  sight  of  all  Israel,"  so  that  no  man  of  them  shall 
ever  be  justified  in  refusing  you  allegiance  and  obedience. 
And  to  sum  up — you  shall  be  just  as  Moses  was ;  the 
resources  of  My  might  will  be  as  available  for  you  as 
they  were  for  him.  After  this,  what  misgivings 
could  Joshua  have  ?  Could  he  doubt  the  generosity, 
the  kindness,  the  considerateness  of  his  Master  ? 
Here  was  a  promise  for  life  ;  and  no  doubt  the  more 
he  put  it  to  the  test  in  after  years  the  more  trustworthy 
did  he  find  it,  and  the  more  convincing  was  the  proof  it 
supplied  of  the  mindfulness  of  God. 

It  is  an  experience  which  has  been  often  repeated 
in  the  case  of  those  who  have  had  to  undertake  difficult 
work  for  their  Master.  Of  all  our  misapprehensions, 
the  most  baseless  and  the  most  pernicious  is,  that 
God  does  not  care  much  about  us,  and  that  we  have 
not  much  to  look  for  from  Him.  It  is  a  misapprehen- 
sion which  dishonours  God  greatly,  and  which  He  is 
ever  showing  Himself  most  desirous  to  remove.  It 
stands  fearfully  in  the  way  of  that  spirit  of  trust  by 
which  God  is  so  much  honoured,  and  which  He  is  ever 


104  THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA, 


desirous  that  we  should  show.  And  those  who  have 
trusted  God,  and  have  gone  forward  to  their  work  in 
His  strength,  have  always  found  delightful  evidence  that 
their  trust  has  not  been  in  vain.  What  is  the  testi- 
mony of  our  great  Christian  philanthropists,  our  most 
successful  missionaries,  and  other  devoted  Christian 
workers  ?  Led  to  undertake  enterprises  far  beyond 
their  strength,  and  undergo  responsibilities  far  beyond 
their  means,  we  know  not  a  single  case  in  which  they 
have  not  had  ample  proof  of  the  mindfulness  of  their 
Master,  and  found  occasion  to  wonder  at  the  consider- 
ateness  and  the  bountifulness  which  He  has  brought 
to  bear  upon  their  position.  And  is  it  not  strange  that 
we  should  be  so  slow  to  learn  how  infinite  God  is 
in  goodness  ?  That  we  should  have  no  difficulty  in 
believing  in  the  goodness  of  a  parent  or  of  some  kind 
friend  who  has  always  been  ready  to  help  us  in  our 
times  of  need,  but  so  slow  to  realize  this  in  regard  to 
God,  though  we  are  constantly  acknowledging  in  words 
that  He  is  the  best  as  well  as  the  greatest  of  beings  ? 
It  is  a  happy  era  in  one's  spiritual  history  when  one 
escapes  from  one's  contracted  views  of  the  love  and 
liberality  of  God,  and  begins  to  realize  that  ''  as  far  as 
heaven  is  above  the  earth,  so  far  are  His  ways  above 
our  ways,  and  His  thoughts  above  our  thoughts  " ;  and 
when  one  comes  to  find  that  in  one's  times  of  need, 
whether  arising  from  one's  personal  condition  or  from 
the  requirements  of  public  service,  one  may  go  to  God 
for  encouragement  and  help  with  more  certainty  of 
being  well  received  than  one  may  go  to  the  best  and 
kindest  of  friends. 

It  is  sometimes  said  that  the  Old  Testament  presents 
us  with  a  somewhat  limited  view  of  God's  love.  Cer- 
tainly it  is  in  the  New  Testament  that  we  see  it  placed 


iii.  1-7.]  JORDAN  REACHED.  105 

in  the  brightest  of  all  lights — the  Cross,  and  that  we 
find  the  argument  in  its  most  irresistible  form — '*  He 
that  spared  not  His  own  Son,  but  delivered  Him  up 
for  us  all,  how  shall  He  not,  with  Him  also,  freely  give 
us  all  things  ?  "  But  one  must  have  read  the  Old 
Testament  in  a  very  careless  spirit  if  one  has  not  been 
struck  with  its  frequent  and  most  impressive  revelations 
of  God's  goodness.  What  scenes  of  gracious  inter- 
course with  His  servants  does  it  not  present  from  first 
to  last,  what  outpourings  of  affection,  what  yearnings  of 
a  father's  heart  !  If  there  were  many  in  Old  Testament 
times  whom  these  revelations  left  as  heedless  as  they 
found  them,  there  were  certainly  some  whom  they 
filled  with  wonder  and  roused  to  words  of  glowing 
gratitude.  The  Bible  is  not  wont  to  repeat  the  same 
thought  in  the  same  words.  But  there  is  one  truth  and 
one  only  v/hich  we  find  repeated  again  and  again  in  the 
Old  Testament,  in  the  same  words,  as  if  the  writers 
were  never  weary  of  them-^'^  For  His  mercy  endureth 
for  ever."  Not  only  is  it  the  refrain  of  a  whole  psalm 
(cxxxvi.),  but  we  find  ic  at  the  beginning  of  three  other 
psalms  (cvi.,  cvii.,  cxviii.),  we  find  it  in  David's  song  of 
dedication  when  the  ark  was  brought  up  to  Jerusalem 
(i  Chron.  xvi.  34),  and  we  find  also  that  on  the  same 
occasion  a  body  of  men,  Heman  and  Jeduthun  and 
others,  were  told  off  expressly  '^  to  give  thanks  to  the 
Lord,  because  His  mercy  endureth  for  ever  "  (i  Chron. 
xvi.  41).  This,  indeed,  is  the  great  truth  which  gives 
the  Old  Testament  its  highest  interest  and  beauty. 
In  the  New  Testament,  in  its  evangelical  setting,  it 
shines  with  incomparable  brightness.  Vividly  realized, 
it  makes  the  Christian's  cup  to  flow  over  ;  as  it  fills 
him  likewise  with  the  hope  of  a  joy  to  come — ^'  a  joy 
unspeakable  and  full  of  glory.' 


CHAPTER   IX. 

JORDAN  DIVIDED. 
Joshua  iii. 

AT  Joshua's  command^  the  priests  carrying  the  ark 
are  again  in  motion.  Bearing  the  sacred  vessel 
on  their  shoulders,  they  make  straight  for  the  bank  of 
the  river.  ^'  The  exact  spot  is  unknown  ;  it  certainly 
cannot  be  that  which  the  Greek  tradition  has  fixed, 
where  the  eastern  banks  are  sheer  precipices  of  ten  or 
fifteen  feet  high.  Probably  it  was  either  immediately 
above  or  below,  where  the  cliffs  break  away  ;  above  at 
the  fords,  or  below  where  the  river  assumes  a  tamer 
character  on  its  way  to  the  Dead  Sea."  ^  Following  the 
priests,  at  the  interval  of  a  full  half-mile,  was  the  host 
of  Israel.  ^*  There  was  the  mailed  warrior  with  sword 
and  shield,  and  the  aged  patriarch,  trembling  on  his 
staff.  Anxious  mothers  and  timid  maidens  were  there, 
and  helpless  infants  of  a  day  old  ;  and  there,  too,  were 
flocks  and  herds  and  all  the  possessions  of  a  great 
nation  migrating  westward  in  search  of  a  home.  Before 
them  lay  their  promised  inheritance, 

'While  Jordan  rolled  between,' 

full  to  the  brim,  and  overflowing  all  its  banks.  Never- 
theless, through  it  lies  their  road,  and  God  commands 
the  march.     The  priests  take   up  the  sacred  ark  and 

^  Stanley's  "  Sinai  and  Palestine,"  p.  303. 

106 


iii.]  JORDAN  DIVIDED.  107 

bear  it  boldly  down  to  the  brink  ;  when  lo  I  ^  the  waters 
which  came  down  from  above  stood  and  rose  up  upon 
a  heap  very  far  from  the  city  Adam,  that  is  before 
Zaretan  :  and  those  that  came  down  toward  the  sea 
of  the  plain,  even  the  Salt  Sea,  failed,  and  were  cut  off : 
and  the  people  passed  over  right  against  Jericho.'  And 
thus,  too,  has  all-conquering  faith  carried  the  thousand 
times  ten  thousand  of  God's  people  in  triumph  through 
the  Jordan  of  death  to  the  Canaan  of  eternal  rest."^ 

The  description  of  the  parting  of  the  waters  is  clear 
enough  in  the  main,  though  somewhat  obscure  in  detail. 
The  obscurity  arises  from  the  meaningless  expression 
in  the  Authorized  Version,  '*  very  far  from  the  city 
Adam,  which  is  beside  Zaretan."  The  Revised  render- 
ing gives  a  much  more  natural  meaning — "  rose  up  in 
one  heap,  very  far  off,  at  Adam,  the  city  that  is  beside 
Zarethan."  The  names  Adam  and  Zaretan  occur 
nowhere  else  in  Scripture,  nor  are  they  mentioned  by 
Josephus  ;  some  think  we  have  a  relic  of  Adam  in  the 
first  part  of  ed-Damieh,  the  name  of  a  ford,  and  others, 
following  the  rendering  of  the  Septuagint,  which  has 
€(&)9  fjb6pov<;  KapLa6capL/jbf  consider  the  final  "  arim  "  to  be 
equivalent  to  ^'  adim  "  or  *'  adam,"  the  Hebrew  letter  '*  r  " 
being  almost  the  same  as  ''  d."  What  we  are  taught  is, 
that  the  waters  were  cut  off  from  the  descending  river 
a  long  way  up,  while  down  below  the  whole  channel 
was  laid  bare  as  far  as  the  Dead  Sea.  The  miracle 
involved  an  accumulation  of  water  in  the  upper  reaches 
of  the  river,  and  as  it  was  obviously  undesirable  that 
this  should  continue  for  a  long  time,  enough  of  the 
channel  was  laid  bare  to  enable  the  great  host  to  cross 
rapidly  in  a  broad  belt,  and  without  excitement  or  con- 

^  "Land  and  Book,"  vol.  ii.,  pp.  460-61. 


io8  THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 

fusion.  The  sceptical  objection  is  completely  obviated 
that  it  was  physically  impossible  for  so  vast  a  host  to 
make  the  passage  in  a  short  time. 

As  soon  as  the  waters  began  to  retreat,  after  the 
feet  of  the  priests  were  planted  in  them,  the  priests 
passed  on  to  the  middle  of  the  channel,  and  stood  there 
"  firm,  on  dry  ground,"  until  all  the  people  were  passed 
clean  over.  The  vast  host  crossed  at  once,  and  drew 
up  on  the  opposite  bank.  That  no  attempt  was  made 
by  the  men  of  Jericho,  which  was  only  about  five  miles 
off,  to  attack  them  and  stop  their  passage,  can  be 
explained  only  on  the  supposition  that  they  were  stricken 
with  panic.  One  inhabitant  undoubtedly  heard  of  the 
passage  without  surprise.  Rahab  could  feel  no  astonish- 
ment that  the  arm  of  God  should  thus  be  made  bare 
before  the  people  whom  He  was  pledged  to  protect  and 
guide.  As  little  could  she  wonder  at  the  paralysis 
which  had  petrified  her  own  people. 

The  priests  passed  on  before  the  people,  and  stood 
firm  in  the  midst  of  the  river  until  the  whole  host  had 
passed.  It  was  both  a  becoming  thing  that  they  should 
go  before,  and  that  they  should  stand  so  firm.  It  is 
not  always  that  either  priests  or  Christian  ministers 
have  set  the  example  of  going  before  in  any  hazardous 
undertaking.  They  have  not  always  moved  so  steadily 
in  the  van  of  great  movements,  nor  stood  so  firmly  in 
the  midst  of  the  river.  What  shall  we  say  of  those 
whose  idea,  whether  of  Hebrew  priesthood  or  of  Chris- 
tian ministry,  has  been  that  of  a  mere  office,  that  of  men 
ordained  to  perform  certain  mechanical  functions,  in 
whom  personal  character  and  personal  example  signified 
little  or  nothing  ?  Is  it  not  infinitely  nearer  to  the 
Bible  view  that  the  ministers  of  religion  are  the  leaders 
of  the  people,  and  that  they  ought  as  such  to  be  ever 


iii.]  JORDAN  DIVIDED.  109 


foremost  in  zeal,  in  holiness,  in  self-denial,  in  victory 
over  the  world,  the  flesh,  and  the  devil  ?  And  of  all 
men  ought  they  not  to  stand  firm  ?  Where  are  Mr. 
Byends,  and  Mr.  Facing-Both-Ways,  and  Mr.  Worldly- 
Wiseman  more  out  of  place  than  in  the  ministry  ? 
Where  does  even  the  world  look  more  for  consistency 
and  devotion  and  fearless  regard  to  the  will  of  God  ? 
What  should  we  think  of  an  army  where  the  officers 
counted  it  enough  to  see  to  the  drill  and  discipline  of  the 
men,  and  in  the  hour  of  battle  confined  themselves  to 
mere  mechanical  duties,  and  were  outstripped  in  self- 
denial,  in  courage,  in  dash  and  daring  by  the  commonest 
of  their  soldiers  ?  Happy  the  Church  where  the  officers 
are  officers  indeed !  Feeling  ever  that  their  place  is 
in  the  front  rank  of  the  battle  and  in  the  vanguard 
of  every  perilous  enterprise,  and  that  it  is  their  part 
to  set  the  men  an  example  of  unwavering  firmness 
even  when  the  missiles  of  death  are  whistling  or  burst- 
ing on  every  side  ! 

Who  shall  try  to  picture  the  feelings  of  the  people 
during  that  memorable  crossing  ?  The  outstretched 
arm  of  God  was  even  more  visibly  shown  than  in  the 
crossing  of  the  Red  Sea,  for  in  that  case  a  natural 
cause,  the  strong  east  wind,  contributed  something 
to  the  effect,  while  in  this  case  no  secondary  cause  was 
employed,  the  drying  up  of  the  channel  being  due  solely 
to  miracle.  Who  among  all  that  host  could  fail  to  feel 
that  God  was  with  them  ?  And  how  solemn  yet 
cheering  must  the  thought  have  been  alike  to  the 
men  of  war  looking  forward  to  scenes  of  danger  and 
death,  and  to  the  women  and  children,  and  the  aged 
and  infirm,  dreading  otherwise  lest  they  should  be 
trampled  down  amid  the  tumult !  But  of  all  whose 
hearts    were    moved    by   the    marvellous    transaction, 


no  THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 


Joshua  must  have  been  pre-eminent.  ^'As  I  was  with 
Moses,  so  I  will  be  with  thee."  At  the  dividing  of 
the  sea  the  leadership  of  Moses  began,  and  they  were 
all  baptized  unto  him  in  the  cloud  and  in  the  sea.  And 
now,  in  like  manner,  the  leadership  of  Joshua  begins 
at  the  dividing  of  the  river,  and  baptism  unto  Joshua 
takes  the  place  of  baptism  unto  Moses.  A  new  chapter 
of  an  illustrious  history  begins  as  its  predecessor  had 
begun,  but  not  to  be  marred  and  rendered  abortive  by 
unbelief  and  disobedience  like  the  last.  How  true 
God  has  been  to  His  word  !  What  wonders  He  has 
done  among  the  people  1  What  honour  He  has  put 
upon  Joshua !  How  worthy  He  is  to  be  praised ! 
Will  disloyalty  to  Him  ever  occur  again,  will  this 
marvellous  deed  be  forgotten,  and  the  miserable  gods  of 
the  heathen  be  preferred  to  Jehovah  ?  Will  any  future 
prophet  have  cause  to  say,  '^  O  Ephraim,  what  shall 
I  do  unto  thee  ?  O  Judah,  what  shall  I  do  unto  thee  ? 
For  your  goodness  is  as  a  morning  cloud,  and  as  the 
early  dew,  it  goeth  away  "  ? 

It  is  to  be  especially  remarked  that  God  took  into 
His  own  hands  the  prescription  of  the  method  by  which 
this  great  event  was  to  be  commemorated.  It  seems 
as  if  He  could  not  trust  the  people  to  do  it  in  a  way 
that  would  be  free  from  objection  and  from  evil  tendency. 
It  was  assumed  that  the  event  was  worthy  of  special 
commemoration.  True,  indeed,  there  had  been  no 
special  commemoration  of  the  passage  of  the  sea,  but 
then  the  Passover  was  instituted  so  near  to  that  event 
that  it  might  serve  as  a  memorial  of  it  as  well  as  of 
the  protection  of  the  Israelites  when  the  firstborn  of 
the  Egyptians  was  slain.  And  generally  the  people 
had  been  taught,  what  their  own  hearts  in  some  degree 
recognised,  that  great  mercies  should  be  specially  com- 


iii.]  JORDAN  DIVIDED.  IH 

memorated.  The  Divine  method  of  commemorating  the 
drying  up  of  the  Jordan  was  a  very  simple  one.  -  In  the 
first  place,  twelve  men  were  selected,  one  from  every 
tribe,  to  do  the  prescribed  work.  The  democratic  constitu- 
tion of  the  nation  was  recognised — each  tribe  was  to 
take  part  in  it ;  and  as  it  was  a  matter  in  which  all 
were  concerned,  each  person  was  to  take  part  in  the 
election  of  the  representative  of  his  tribe.  Then  each 
of  these  twelve  representatives  was  to  take  from  the 
bed  of  the  river,  from  the  place  where  the  priests  had 
stood  with  the  ark,  a  stone,  probably  as  large  as  he 
could  carry.  The  twelve  stones  were  to  be  carried 
to  the  place  where  the  host  lodged  that  night,  and 
to  be  erected  as  a  standing  memorial  of  the  miracle. 
It  was  a  very  simple  memorial,  but  it  was  all  that  was 
needed.  It  was  not  like  the  proud  temples  or  glorious 
pyramids  of  Egypt,  reared  as  these  were  to  give  glory 
to  man  more  than  to  God.  It  was  like  Jacob's  pillar 
before,  or  Samuel's  Ebenezer  afterwards  ;  void  of  every 
ornament  or  marking  that  could  magnify  man,  and 
designed  for  one  single  purpose — to  recall  the  goodness 
of  God. 

It  would  appear,  from  chap.  iv.  9,  that  two  sets  of 
stones  were  set  up,  Joshua,  following  the  spirit  of 
the  Divine  direction,  having  caused  a  second  set  to 
be  erected  in  the  middle  of  the  river  on  the  spot  where 
the  priests  had  stood.  Some  have  supposed  that  that 
verse  is  an  interpolation  of  later  date  ;  but,  as  it  occurs 
in  all  the  manuscripts,  and  as  it  is  expressly  stated  in 
the  Septuagint  and  Vulgate  versions  that  this  was  a 
different  transaction  from  the  other,  we  must  accept 
it  as  such.  The  one  memorial  stood  on  the  spot 
where  the  ark  had  indicated  the  presence  of  God,  the 
other  where    the    first    encampment    of  the    host    had 


112  THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 


shown  God's  faithfulness  to  His  word.  Both  seemed 
to  proclaim  the  great  truth  afterwards  brought  out  in 
the  exquisite  words  of  the  psalm — ''  God  is  our  refuge 
and  our  strength ;  a  very  present  help  in  time  of 
trouble."  They  might  not  be  needed  so  much  for  the 
generation  that  experienced  the  deliverance ;  but  in 
future  generations  they  would  excite  the  curiosity  of 
the  children,  and  thus  afford  an  opportunity  to  the 
parents  to  rehearse  the  transactions  of  that  day,  and 
thrill  their  hearts  with  the  sense  of  God's  mercy. 

Among  devout  Israelites,  that  day  was  never  for- 
gotten. The  crossing  of  the  Jordan  was  coupled  with 
the  crossing  of  the  sea,  as  the  two  crowning  tokens  of 
God's  mercy  in  the  history  of  Israel,  and  the  most 
remarkable  exhibitions  of  that  Divine  power  which  had 
been  so  often  shown  among  them.  In  that  wailing 
song,  the  seventy-fourth  psalm,  where  God's  wonderful 
works  of  old  are  contrasted  in  a  very  sad  spirit  with 
the  unmitigated  desolations  that  met  the  writer's  eye, 
almost  in  the  same  breath  in  which  he  extols  the  miracle 
of  the  sea,  ^'  Thou  didst  divide  the  sea  by  Thy  strength," 
he  gives  thanks  for  the  miracle  of  the  river,  ^'  Thou 
didst  cleave  the  fountain  and  the  flood  :  Thou  driedst 
up  mighty  rivers."  And  in  a  song,  not  of  wailing,  but 
of  triumph,  the  hundred  and  fourteenth  psalm,  we  have 
the  same  combination  : — 

"When  Israel  went  forth  out  of  Egypt, 
The  house  of  Jacob  from  a  people  of  strange  language  ; 
Judah  became  His  sanctuary, 
Israel  His  dominion. 
The  sea  saw  it,  and  fled  ; 
Jordan  was  driven  back. 
The  mountains  skipped  like  rams, 
The  little  hills  like  lambs. 

What   aileth  thee,  O  thou  sea,  that  thou  fleest  ? 
Thou  Jordan,  that  thou  turnest  back  ? 


lii.]  JORDAN  DIVIDED.  113 

Ye  mountains,  that  ye  skip  like  rams ; 

Ye  little  hills  like  lambs  ? 

Tremble,  thou  earth,  at  the  presence  of  the  Lord, 

At  the  presence  of  the  God  of  Jacob  ; 

Which  turned  the  rock  into  a  pool  of  water, 

The  flint  into  a  fountain  of  waters." 

The  point  of  this  psalm  lies  in  the  first  verse — in  the 
reference  to  the  time  ''  when  Israel  came  out  of  Egypt, 
the  house  of  Jacob  from  a  people  of  strange  language.'' 
Israel  on  that  occasion  gave  a  signal  proof  of  his  trust 
in  God.  At  God's  bidding,  and  with  none  but  God  to 
trust  in,  he  turned  his  back  on  Egypt,  and  made  for 
the  wilderness.  It  was  a  delight  to  God  to  receive  this 
mark  of  trust  and  obedience,  and  in  recognition  of  it 
the  mightiest  masses  and  forces  of  nature  were  moved 
or  arrested.  The  mountains  and  hills  skipped  like 
living  creatures,  and  the  sea  saw  it  and  fled.  It  seemed 
as  if  God  could  not  do  too  much  for  His  people.  It  was 
the  same  spirit  that  was  shown  when  they  followed 
Joshua  to  the  river.  They  showed  that  they  trusted 
God.  They  renounced  the  visible  and  the  tangible  for 
the  invisible  and  the  spiritual.  They  rose  up  at 
Joshua's  command,  or  rather  at  the  command  of  God 
by  Joshua ;  and,  pleased  with  this  mark  of  trust,  God 
caused  the  waters  of  the  Jordan  to  part  asunder. 
Surely  there  is  something  pathetic  in  this  ;  the  Almighty 
is  so  pleased  when  His  children  trust  Him,  that  to  serve 
them  the  strongest  forces  are  moved  about  as  if  they 
were  but  feathers. 

In  many  ways  the  truth  has  been  exemplified  in  later 
times.  When  a  young  convert,  at  home  or  abroad, 
takes  up  decided  ground  for  Christ,  coming  out  from 
the  world  and  becoming  separate,  very  blessed  tokens 
of  God's  nearness  and  of  God's  interest  are  usually 
given  him.     And  Churches  that  at  the  call  of  Christ 


1 14  THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 

surrender  their  worldly  advantages,  receive  tokens  of 
spiritual  blessing  that  infinitely  outweigh  in  sweetness 
and  in  spiritual  value  all  that  they  lose.  ^^  Them  that 
honour  Me,  I  will  honour." 

Occurrences  of  more  recent  times  show  clearly  that 
God  did  well  in  taking  into  His  own  hands  the 
prescription  of  the  way  in  which  the  crossing  of  the 
Jordan  was  to  be  commemorated.  Tradition  has  it  that 
it  was  at  the  same  place  where  Joshua  crossed  that  Jesus 
was  baptized  by  John.  That  may  well  be  doubted, 
for  the  Bethabara  where  John  was  baptizing  was 
probably  at  a  higher  point  of  the  river.  But  it  is  quite 
possible  that  it  was  at  this  spot  that  Elijah's  mantle 
smote  the  river,  and  he  and  his  servant  passed  over  on 
dry  ground.  Holding  that  all  these  events  occurred  at 
the  same  place,  tradition  has  called  in  the  aid  of  super- 
stition, and  given  a  sacred  character  to  the  waters  of 
the  river  at  this  spot.  Many  have  seen,  and  every  one 
has  read  of  the  pilgrimage  to  the  Jordan,  performed 
every  spring,  from  which  many  hope  to  reap  such 
advantage.  ''  In  the  mosaics  of  the  earliest  churches 
at  Rome  and  Ravenna,"  says  Dean  Stanley,  ^'  before 
Christian  and  pagan  art  were  yet  divided,  the  Jordan 
appears  as  a  river  god  pouring  his  streams  out  of  his 
urn.  The  first  Christian  emperor  had  always  hoped  to 
receive  his  long-deferred  baptism  in  the  Jordan,  up  to 
the  moment  when  the  hand  of  death  struck  him  at 
Nicomedia.  .  .  .  Protestants,  as  well  as  Greeks  and 
Latins,  have  delighted  to  carry  off  its  waters  for  the 
same  sacred  purpose  to  the  remotest  regions  of  the 
West." 

No  doubt  the  expectation  of  spiritual  benefit  from 
the  waters  of  the  Jordan  is  one  cause  of  the  annual 
pilgrimage    thither,    and   of    the    strange    scene    that 


iii.]  JORDAN  DIVIDED.  115 

presents  itself  when  the  pilgrims  are  bathing.  It 
seems  impossible  for  man,  except  under  the  influence 
of  the  strongest  spiritual  views,  to  avoid  the  belief  that 
somehow  mechanical  means  may  give  rise  to  spiritual 
results.  There  is  nothing  from  which  he  is  naturally 
more  averse  than  spiritual  activity.  Any  amount  of 
mechanical  service  he  will  often  render  to  save  him 
from  spiritual  exercise.  Symbols  without  number  he 
will  willingly  provide,  if  he  thereby  escape  the  necessity 
of  going  into  the  immediate  presence  of  God,  and  wor- 
shipping Him  who  is  a  Spirit  in  spirit  and  in  truth. 
But  can  mechanical  service  or  material  symbols  be  any- 
thing but  an  evil,  if  the  would-be  worshipper  is  thereby 
prevented  h^om  recognising  the  necessity  of  a  heart-to- 
heart  fellowship  with  the  living  God  ?  Must  we  not 
be  in  living  touch  with  God  if  the  stream  of  Divine 
influence  is  to  reach  our  hearts,  and  we  are  to  be 
changed  into  His  image  ?  In  the  Psalms,  which  express 
the  very  essence  of  Hebrew  devotion,  spiritual  contact 
with  God  is  the  only  source  of  blessing.  ^*  O  God, 
Thou  art  my  God  ;  early  will  I  seek  Thee  :  my  soul 
thirsteth  for  Thee,  my  flesh  longeth  for  Thee  in  a  dry 
and  thirsty  land,  where  there  is  no  water.  To  see  Thy 
power  and  Thy  glory,  so  as  I  have  seen  Thee  in  the 
sanctuary." 

Thus  it  was  that  by  God's  prescription  the  twelve  plain 
stones  taken  out  of  the  Jordan  were  the  only  memorial  of 
the  great  deliverance.  There  was  no  likeness  on  them 
of  the  Divine  Being  by  whom  the  miracle  had  been 
performed.  There  was  nothing  to  encourage  acts  of 
reverence  or  worship  directed  toward  the  memorial. 
Twelve  rough  stones,  with  no  sculptured  figures  or 
symbols,  not  even  dressed  by  hammer  and  chisel,  but 
simply  as  they  were  taken  out  of  the  river,  were  the 


ii6  THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 

memorial.  They  were  adapted  for  one  purpose,  and 
for  one  only :  '*  When  your  children  shall  ask  their 
fathers  in  time  to  come,  saying,  What  mean  these 
stones  ?  then  ye  shall  let  your  children  know,  saying, 
Israel  came  over  this  Jordan  on  dry  land.  For  the 
Lord  your  God  dried  up  the  waters  of  the  Jordan  from 
before  you,  until  3^e  were  passed  over,  as  the  Lord 
your  God  did  to  the  Red  Sea,  which  He  dried  up  from 
before  us,  until  we  were  gone  over :  that  all  the  people 
of  the  earth  might  know  the  hand  of  the  Lord,  that  it 
is  mighty :  that  ye  might  fear  the  Lord  your  God  for 
ever." 


CHAPTER   X. 

CIRCUMCISION  AND  PASSOVER— MANNA   AND   CORN. 

Joshua  v.  i — 12. 

THE  first  two  facts  recorded  in  this  chapter  seem 
to  be  closely  connected  with  each  other.  One  is, 
that  when  all  the  Amorite  and  Canaanite  kings  on  the 
west  side  of  the  Jordan  heard  of  the  miraculous  drying 
up  of  the  waters  and  the  passage  of  the  Israelites, 
**  their  heart  melted,  neither  was  there  spirit  in  them 
any  more."  The  other  is,  that  the  opportunity  was 
taken  then  and  there  to  circumcise  the  whole  of  the 
generation  that  had  been  born  after  leaving  Egypt. 
But  for  the  fact  recorded  in  the  first  verse,  it  would 
have  been  the  most  unsuitable  time  that  could  be  con- 
ceived for  administering  circumcision.  The  whole  male 
population  would  have  been  rendered  helpless  for  the 
time,  and  an  invitation  would  have  been  given  to  the 
men  of  Jericho  to  commit  such  a  massacre  as  in  the  like 
circumstances  the  sons  of  Jacob  inflicted  on  the  men 
of  Shechem  (Gen.  xxxiv.  25).  Why  was  not  this 
business  of  circumcising  performed  while  the  host  were 
lying  inactive  on  the  other  side,  and  while  the  Jordan 
ran  between  Israel  and  his  foes  ?  It  was  because  the 
kings  of  the  Canaanites  were  petrified.  It  is  true  they 
plucked  up  courage  by-and-by,  and  many  of  the  kings 
entered  into  a  league  against  Joshua.  But  this  was 
after  the  affair  of  Ai,  after  the  defeat  of  the  Israelites 

"7 


ii8  THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 


before  that  city  had  showed  that,  as  in  the  case  of 
Achilles,  there  was  a  vulnerable  spot  somewhere,  not- 
withstanding the  protection  of  their  God.  Meanwhile 
the  people  of  Jericho  were  paralysed,  for  though  the 
whole  male  population  of  Israel  under  forty  lay  helpless 
in  their  tents,  not  a  finger  was  raised  by  the  enemy 
against  them. 

It  is  with  no  little  surprise  that  we  read  that  circum- 
cision had  been  suspended  during  the  long  period  of 
the  wilderness  sojourn.  Why  was  this  ?  Some  have 
said  that,  owing  to  the  circumstances  in  which  the 
people  were,  it  would  not  have  been  convenient,  per- 
haps hardly  possible,  to  administer  the  rite  on  the 
eighth  day.  Moving  as  they  were  from  place  to  place, 
the  administration  of  circumcision  would  often  have 
caused  so  much  pain  and  peril  to  the  child,  that  it 
is  no  wonder  it  was  delayed.  And  once  delayed,  it 
was  delayed  indefinitely.  But  this  explanation  is  not 
sufficient.  There  were  long,  very  long  periods  of  rest, 
during  which  there  could  have  been  no  difficulty.  A 
better  explanation,  brought  forward  by  Calvin,  leads 
us  to  connect  the  suspension  of  circumcision  with  the 
punishment  of  the  Israelites,  and  with  the  sentence 
that  doomed  them  to  wander  forty  years  in  the  wilder- 
ness. When  the  worship  of  the  golden  calf  took  place, 
the  nation  was  rejected,  and  the  breaking  by  Moses  of 
the  two  tables  of  stone  seemed  an  appropriate  sequel 
to  the  rupture  of  the  covenant  which  their  idolatry  had 
caused.  And  though  they  were  soon  restored,  they 
were  not  restored  without  certain  drawbacks, — tokens 
of  the  Divine  displeasure.  Afterwards,  at  the  great 
outburst  of  unbelief  in  connection  with  the  report  of 
the  spies,  the  adult  generation  that  had  come  out  of 
Egypt  were  doomed  to  perish  in  the  wilderness,  and. 


V.  I-I2.J  CIRCUMCISION  AND  PASSOVER.  119 


with  the  exception  of  Joshua  and  Caleb,  not  one  of 
them  was  permitted  to  enter  the  land  of  promise.  Now, 
though  it  is  not  expressly  stated,  it  seems  probable  that 
the  suspension  of  circumcision  was  included  in  the 
punishment  of  their  sins.  They  were  not  to  be  allowed 
to  place  on  their  children  the  sign  and  seal  of  a  covenant 
which  in  spirit  and  in  reality  they  had  broken. 

But  it  was  not  an  abolition,  but  only  a  suspension  of 
the  sacrament  for  a  time  that  took  place.  The  time 
might  come  when  it  would  be  restored.  The  natural 
time  for  this  would  be  the  end  of  the  forty  years  of 
chastisement.  These  forty  years  had  now  come  to  an 
end.  Doubtless  it  would  have  been  a  great  joy  to 
Moses  if  it  had  been  given  him  to  see  the  restoration 
of  circumcision,  but  that  was  not  to  take  place  until  the 
people  had  set  foot  on  Abraham's  land.  Now  they 
have  crossed  the  river.  They  have  entered  on  the 
very  land  which  God  sware  to  Abraham  and  Isaac  and 
Jacob  to  give  it  them.  And  the  very  first  thing  that  is 
done  after  this  is  to  give  back  to  them  the  holy  sign 
of  the  covenant,  which  was  now  administered  to  every 
man  in  the  congregation  who  had  not  previously  received 
it.  We  may  well  think  of  it  as  an  occasion  of  great 
rejoicing.  The  visible  token  of  his  being  one  of  God's 
children  was  now  borne  by  every  man  and  boy  in  the 
camp.  In  a  sense  they  now  served  themselves  heirs  to 
the  covenant  made  with  their  fathers,  and  might  thus 
rest  with  firmer  trust  on  the  promise — ''  I  will  bless 
them  that  bless  thee,  and  curse  him  that  curseth  thee." 

Two  other  points  in  connection  with  this  transaction 
demand  a  word  of  explanation.  The  first  is  the  state- 
ment that  ''all  the  people  that  were  born  in  the  wilder- 
ness by  the  way  as  they  came  forth  out  of  Egypt,  them 
they  had  not  circumcised  "  (ver.   5).     If  the  view   be 


120  THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 


correct  that  the  suspension  of  circumcision  was  part  of 
the  punishment  for  their  sins,  the  prohibition  would  not 
come   into  operation   for   some    months,  at  all  events, 
after  the  exodus  from  Egypt.     We  think,  with  Calvin, 
that  for  the  sake  of  brevity  the  sacred  historian  makes 
a   general    statement   without    waiting   to   explain  the 
exceptions  to  which  it  was  subject.     The  other  point 
needing  explanation  is  the  Lord's  statement  after  the 
circumcision — '*  This   day  have   I   rolled   the   reproach 
of  Egypt  from  off  you.     Wherefore  the   name  of  the 
place  is  called  Gilgal  (i.e.,  Rolling)  unto  this  day."     How 
could    the    suspension    of    circumcision    be    called    the 
reproach  of  Egypt  ?     The  words  imply  that,  owing  to 
the  want  of  this  sacrament,  they  had  lain  exposed  to 
a  reproach  from  the  Egyptians,  which  was  now  rolled 
away.     The  brevity  of  the  statement,  and  our  ignorance 
of  what  the  Egyptians  were  saying  of  the  Israelites 
at   the   time,   make  the    words   difficult   to  understand. 
What  seems  most  likely  is,  that  when  the  Egyptians 
heard    how   God    had  all  but  repudiated   them  in   the 
wilderness,  and  had  withdrawn  from  them  the  sign  of 
His  covenant,  the}^  malignantly  crowed  over  them,  and 
denounced    them   as   a  worthless  race,   who  had  first 
rejected  their  lawful  rulers  in  Egypt  under  pretext  of 
religion,  and,  having  shown  their  hypocrisy,  were  now 
scorned  and  cast  off  by  the  very  God  whom  they  had 
professed   themselves  so  eager  to  serve.     We  may  be 
sure   that   the   Egyptians   would  not   be   slow  to  seize 
any  pretext  for  denouncing  the  Israelites,  and  would 
be  sure  to  make  their  jibes  as  sharp  and  as  bitter  as 
they   could.     But   now   the   tables  are  turned    on   the 
Egyptians.       The    restoration    of  circumcision    stamps 
this   people    once   more   as  the   people   of  God.     The 
stupendous  miracle  just  wrought  in  the  dividing  of  the 


V.  I -12.]  CIRCUMCISION  AND  PASSOVER.  121 


Jordan  indicates  the  kind  of  protection  which  their  God 
and  King  is  sure  to  extend  to  them.  The  name  of 
Gilgal  will  be  a  perpetual  testimony  that  the  reproach 
of  Egypt  is  rolled  away. 

Circumcision  being  now  duly  performed,  the  way  was 
prepared  for  another  holy  rite  for  which  the  appointed 
season  had  arrived — the  Passover.  Some  have  sup- 
posed that  the  Passover  as  well  as  circumcision  was 
suspended  after  the  sentence  of  the  forty  years'  wander- 
ing, the  more  especially  that  it  was  expressly  enacted 
that  no  uncircumcised  person  v/as  to  eat  the  Passover. 
We  know  (Num.  ix.  5)  that  the  Passover  was  kept  the 
second  year  after  they  left  Egypt,  but  no  other  reference 
to  it  occurs  in  the  histor}^  On  this,  as  on  many  other 
points  connected  with  the  wilderness  history,  we  must 
be  content  to  remain  in  ignorance.  We  are  not  even 
very  sure  how  far  the  ordinary  sacrifices  were  offered 
during  that  period.  It  is  quite  possible  that  the  con- 
siderations that  suspended  the  rite  of  circumcision 
applied  to  other  ordinances.  But  whether  or  not  the 
Passover  was  observed  in  the  wilderness,  we  may 
easily  understand  that  after  being  circumcised  the  people 
would  observe  it  with  a  much  happier  and  more  satisfied 
feeling.  There  were  many  things  to  make  this  Pass- 
over memorable.  The  crossing  of  the  Jordan  was  so 
like  the  crossing  of  the  Red  Sea  that  the  celebration 
in  Egypt  could  not  fail  to  come  back  vividly  to  all  the 
older  people, — those  that  were  under  twenty  at  the 
exodus,  to  whom  the  sentence  of  exclusion  from  Canaan 
did  not  apply  (Num.  xiv.  29).  Many  of  these  must 
have  looked  on  while  their  fathers  sprinkled  the  lintels 
and  door  posts  with  the  blood  of  the  lamb,  and  must 
have  listened  to  the  awful  death-cry  of  the  firstborn 
of  the  Egyptians.     They  must  have  remembered  well 


122  THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 


that  memorable  midnight  when  all  were  in  such  excite- 
ment marching  away  from  Egypt ;  and  not  less  vividly 
must  they  have  remembered  the  terror  that  seized  them 
when  the  Egyptian  host  was  seen  in  pursuit  ;  and  then 
again  the  thrill  of  triumph  with  which  they  passed 
between  the  crystal  walls,  under  the  glow  of  the  fiery 
pillar  ;  and  once  more  the  triumphant  notes  of  Miriam's 
timbrel  and  the  voices  of  the  women,  ^'  Sing  unto  the 
Lord,  for  He  hath  triumphed  gloriously ;  the  horse  and 
his  rider  He  hath  cast  into  the  sea."  And  now  these 
days  of  glory  were  coming  back  !  As  surely  as  the 
passage  of  the  sea  had  been  followed  by  the  destruction 
of  the  Egyptians,  so  surely  would  the  passage  of  the 
Jordan  be  followed  by  the  destruction  of  the  Canaanites. 
Glorious  things  were  spoken  of  the  city  of  their  God. 
The  benediction  of  Moses  was  about  to  receive  a  new 
fulfilment — ''  Happy  art  thou,  O  Israel  :  who  is  like 
unto  thee,  O  people  saved  by  the  Lord,  the  shield  of 
thy  help,  and  who  is  the  sword  of  thy  excellency !  and 
thine  enemies  shall  be  found  liars  unto  thee  ;  and  thou 
shalt  tread  upon  their  high  places." 

The  remembrance  of  the  past  is  often  an  excellent 
preparation  for  the  trials  of  the  future,  and  as  often  it 
proves  a  remarkable  support  under  them.  It  was  the 
very  nature  of  the  Passover  to  look  back  to  the  past, 
and  to  recall  God's,  first { great  interposition  on  behalf 
of  His  people.  It  was  a  precious  encouragement  both 
to  faith  and  hope.  So  also  is  our  Christian  Passover. 
It  is  a  connecting  link  between  the  first  and  second 
comings  of  our  Lord.  The  first  coming  lends  support 
to  faith,  the  second  to  hope.  No  exercise  of  soul  can 
be  more  profitable  than  to  go  back  to  that  memorable 
day  when  Christ  our  Passover  was  sacrificed  for  us. 
For  then  the  price  of  redemption  was  paid  in  full,  and 


V.  I-I2.]  MANNA   AND   CORN.  123 

the  door  of  salvation  flung  wide  open.  Then  the  Son 
sealed  His  love  by  giving  Himself  to  the  cross  for  us. 
What  blessing,  whether  for  this  life  or  the  life  to  come, 
was  not  purchased  by  that  transaction  ?  Life  may  be 
dark  and  stormy,  but  hope  foresees  a  bright  to-morrow. 
'^  When  Christ,  who  is  our  life,  shall  appear,  then  shall 
ye  also  appear  with  Him  in  glory." 

Yet  another  incident  is  connected  with  this  transition 
period  of  the  history.  ''  They  did  eat  of  the  old  corn 
of  the  land  on  the  morrow  after  the  passover,  unleavened 
cakes,  and  parched  corn  in  the  selfsame  day.  And  the 
manna  ceased  on  the  morrow  after  they  had  eaten  of 
the  old  corn  of  the  land  ;  neither  had  the  children  of 
Israel  manna  any  more  ;  but  they  did  eat  of  the  fruit 
of  the  land  of  Canaan  that  year."  It  is  not  necessary 
to  suppose  that  they  did  not  partake  at  all  of  the  fruits 
of  the  land  till  the  morning  after  that  Passover.  The 
conquest  of  Sihon  and  Og  must  have  put  a  large  share 
of  produce  in  their  hands,  and  we  can  hardly  suppose 
that  they  did  not  make  some  use  of  it.  The  narrative 
is  so  brief  that  it  does  not  undertake  to  state  every 
modification  that  may  be  applicable  to  its  general 
statements.  The  main  thing  to  be  noticed  is,  that 
while  the  manna  continued  to  descend,  it  was  the  staple 
article  of  food  ;  but  when  the  manna  was  withdrawn, 
the  old  corn  and  other  fruits  of  the  country  took  its 
place.  In  other  words,  the  miracle  was  not  continued 
when  it  ceased  to  be  necessary.  The  manna  had  been 
a  provision  for  the  wilderness,  where  ordinary  food  in 
sufficient  quantity  could  not  be  obtained  ;  but  now  that 
they  were  in  a  land  of  fields  and  orchards  and  vineyards 
the  manna  was  withdrawn. 

We  have  already  adverted  to  the  Bible  law  of  the 
supernatural.     No   sanction   is   given  to  the  idea  of  a 


124  THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 


lavish  and  needless  expenditure  of  supernatural  power. 
A  law  of  economy,  we  might  almost  say  parsimony, 
prevails,  side  by  side  with  the  exercise  of  unbounded 
liberality.  Jesus  multiplies  the  loaves  and  fishes  to 
feed  the  multitude,  but  He  will  not  let  one  fragment  be 
lost  that  remains  after  the  feast.  A  similar  law  guides 
the  economy  of  prayer.  We  have  no  right  to  ask  that 
mercies  may  come  to  us  through  extraordinary  channels, 
when  it  is  in  our  power  to  get  them  by  ordinary  means. 
If  it  is  in  our  power  to  procure  bread  by  our  labour, 
we  dare  not  ask  it  to  be  sent  direct.  We  are  only  too 
prone  to  make  prayer  at  the  eleventh  hour  an  excuse 
for  want  of  diligence  or  want  of  courage  in  what  bears 
on  the  prosperity  of  the  spiritual  life.  It  may  be  that 
of  His  great  generosity  God  sometimes  blesses  us, 
even  though  we  have  made  a  very  inadequate  use  of 
the  ordinary  means.  But  on  that  we  have  no  right  to 
presume.  We  are  fond  of  short  and  easy  methods 
where  the  natural  method  would  be  long  and  laborious. 
But  here  certainly  we  find  the  working  of  natural  law 
in  the  spiritual  world.  We  cannot  look  for  God's 
blessing  without  diligent  use  of  God's  appointed  means. 
More  generally,  this  occurrence  in  the  history  of 
Israel,  the  cessation  of  one  provision  when  another 
comes  into  operation,  exemplifies  a  great  law  in 
providence  by  which  the  loss  of  one  kind  of  advantage 
is  compensated  by  the  advent  of  another.  In  childhood 
and  early  youth  we  depend  for  our  growth  in  know- 
ledge on  the  instructions  of  our  teachers.  What  puzzles 
us  we  refer  to  them,  and  they  guide  us  through  the 
difficulty.  If  they  are  wise  teachers  they  will  not  tell 
us  everything,  but  they  will  put  us  on  the  right  method 
to  find  out.  Still  they  are  there  as  a  court  of  appeal, 
so  to  speak,  and  we  have  always  the  satisfaction  of  a 


V.  I-I2.]  MANNA   AND   CORN.  125 

last  resort.  But  the  time  comes  when  we  bid  farewell 
to  teachers.  Happily  it  is  the  time  when  the  judgment 
becomes  self-reliant,  independent,  penetrating.  We 
are  thrown  mainly  upon  our  own  resources.  And  the 
very  fact  of  our  having  to  depend  on  our  own  judgment 
fosters  and  promotes  independence,  and  fits  us  better 
for  the  responsibilities  of  life.  When  we  become  men 
we  put  away  childish  things.  A  habit  of  leaning  on 
others  keeps  us  children  ;  but  grappling  with  difficulties 
as  we  find  them,  and  trying  to  make  our  way  through 
them  and  over  them,  promotes  manliness.  The  manna 
ceases,  and  we  eat  the  fruit  of  the  land. 

So  in  family  life.  The  affection  that  binds  parents 
and  children,  brothers  and  sisters  to  one  another  in 
the  family  is  both  beautiful  and  delightful  ;  and  it 
were  no  wonder  if,  on  the  part  of  some,  there  were  the 
desire  that  their  intercourse  should  suffer  no  rude 
break,  but  go  on  unchanged  for  an  indefinite  time. 
But  it  is  seldom  God's  will  that  family  Hfe  shall 
remain  unbroken.  Often  the  interruption  comes  in 
the  rudest  and  most  terrible  form — by  the  death  of 
the  head  of  the  house.  And  the  circumstances  of  the 
family  may  require  that  all  who  are  capable  of  earning 
anything  shall  turn  out  to  increase  the  family  store. 
It  is  often  a  painful  and  distressing  change.  But  at 
least  it  wakens  up  all  who  can  do  anything,  it  rescues 
them  from  the  temptation  of  a  slumbering,  aimless  life, 
and  often  draws  out  useful  gifts  that  turn  their  fives 
into  a  real  blessing.  And  there  are  other  compensa- 
tions. When  Sarah  died,  Isaac  was  left  with  an 
empty  heart ;  but  when  Rebecca  came  to  him,  he  was 
comforted.  The  precise  blank  that  death  leaves  may 
never  be  wholly  filled,  but  the  heart  expands  in  other 
directions,    and    with    new    objects    of   affection    the 


126  THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 


gnawing  void  ceases  to  be  acutely  felt.  As  old  attach- 
ments are  snapped,  new  are  gradually  formed.  And 
even  in  old  age  a  law  of  compensation  often  comes  in  ; 
children  and  children's  children  bring  new  interests 
and  pleasures,  and  the  green  hues  of  youth  modify 
the  grey  of  age. 

Then  there  is  the  happy  experience  by  which  the 
advent  of  spiritual  blessings  compensates  the  loss  of 
temporal.  Nothing  at  first  appears  more  desolate  than 
loss  of  fortune,  loss  of  health,  or  loss  of  some  principal 
bodil}^  sense — like  sight  or  hearing.  But  in  a  Milton 
intellectual  vigour,  patriotic  ardour,  and  poetic  sensibi- 
lity attain  their  noblest  elevation,  though 

"Cloud  and  ever-during  dark 
Surrounds  me,  from  the  cheerful  ways  of  men 
Cut  off,  and,  for  the  book  of  knowledge  fair. 
Presented  with  a  universal  blank 
Of  nature's  works,  to  me  expunged  and  rased, 
And  wisdom  at  one  entrance  quite  shut  out." 

It  is  the  total  loss  of  hearing,  the  result  of  a  sudden 
accident,  that  turns  the  slater,  John  Kitto,  into  a  most 
instructive  and  interesting  Oriental  scholar  and  writer. 
How  often  temporal  loss  has  proved  in  a  higher  sense 
spiritual  gain,  all  Christian  biography  testifies.  Such 
instances  are  not  uncommon  as  that  which  the  Rev. 
Charles  Simeon  gives,  in  speaking  of  some  blind  men 
from  Edinburgh  whom  nearly  a  century  ago  he  found 
at  work  in  a  country  house  in  Scotland :  '^  One  of 
the  blind  men,  on  being  interrogated  with  respect  to 
his  knowledge  of  spiritual  things,  answered,  *  I  never 
saw  till  I  was  blind  ;  nor  did  I  ever  know  content- 
ment while  I  had  my  eyesight,  as  I  do  now  that  I  have 
lost  it ;  I  can  truly  affirm,  though  few  know  how  to 
credit  me,   that    I    would   on    no   account   change   my 


V.  I-I2.]  MANNA   AND   CORN.  127 


present  situation  and  circumstances  with  any  that  I 
ever  enjoyed  before  I  was  blind.'  He  had  enjoyed 
eyesight  till  twenty-five,  and  had  been  blind  now  about 
three  years."  ^ 

Lastly,  of  all  exchanges  in  room  of  old  provisions 
the  most  striking  is  that  which  our  Lord  thus  set 
forth  :  *'  It  is  expedient  for  you  that  I  go  away  :  for 
if  I  go  not  away,  the  Comforter  will  not  come  unto 
you  ;  but  if  I  depart,  I  will  send  Him  to  you."  If  we 
should  think  of  life,  even  the  Christian  life,  as  a  mere 
time  of  enjoyment,  albeit  spiritual  enjoyment,  no  state- 
ment could  be  more  paradoxical  or  unpalatable.  It  is 
because  life  is  a  training  school,  and  because  what  we 
most  need  in  that  school  is  the  immediate  action  of 
the  Divine  Spirit  on  our  spirits,  purifying,  elevating, 
strengthening,  guiding  all  that  is  deepest  in  our  nature, 
that  our  Lord's  words  are  true.  Very  precious  had 
been  the  manna  that  ceased  when  Jesus  left.  But 
more  nourishing  is  the  new  corn  with  which  the  Spirit 
feeds  us.  Let  us  prize  it  greatly  so  long  as  we  are  in 
the  flesh.  We  shall  know  the  good  of  it  when  we 
enter  on  the  next  stage  of  our  being.  Then,  in  the 
fullest  sense,  the  manna  will  cease,  and  we  shall  eat 
the  corn  of  the  land. 

^  "Life  of  Rev.  Charles  Simeon,"  p.  125. 


CHAPTER    XI. 

THE  CAPTAIN  OF  THE  LORD'S  HOST. 
Joshua  v.  13 — 15,  vi.  1. 

THE  process  of  circumcision  is  over,  and  the  men 
are  well  ;  the  feast  of  unleavened  bread  has 
come  to  an  end ;  all  honour  has  been  paid  to  these 
sacred  ordinances  according  to  the  appointment  of  God  ; 
the  manna  has  ceased,  and  the  people  are  now  depend- 
ing on  the  corn  of  the  land,  of  which,  in  all  probability, 
they  have  but  a  limited  supply.  Everything  points 
to  the  necessity  of  further  action,  but  it  is  hard  to  say 
what  the  next  step  is  to  be.  Naturally  it  would  be 
the  capture  of  Jericho.  But  this  appears  a  Quixotic 
enterprise.  The  city  is  surrounded  by  a  wall,  and 
its  gates  are  ''  straitly  shut  up,"  barred,  and  closely 
guarded  to  prevent  the  entrance  of  a  single  Israelite. 
Joshua  himself  is  at  a  loss.  No  Divine  communication 
has  yet  come  to  him,  like  that  which  came  as  to  the 
crossing  of  the  Jordan.  See  him  walking  all  alone 
'*  by  Jericho,"  as  near  the  city  as  it  is  safe  for  him 
to  go.  With  mind  absorbed  in  thought  and  eyes  fixed 
on  the  ground,  he  is  pondering  the  situation,  but  unable 
to  get  light  upon  it,  when  something  comes  athwart  his 
sphere  of  vision.  He  lifts  his  eyes,  and  right  against 
him  perceives  a  soldier,  brandishing  his  sword. 

A  less  courageous   man  would   have   been  startled, 

128 


V.  i3-vi.  I.]     THE   CAPTAIN    OF   THE  LORD'S  HOST.       129 

perhaps  frightened.  His  first  thought  is,  that  it  is  an 
enemy.  None  of  his  own  soldiers  would  have  ventured 
there  without  his  orders,  or  would  have  dared  to  take 
up  such  an  attitude  towards  his  commander-in-chief. 
With  a  soldier's  presence  of  mind,  instead  of  moving 
off,  he  assumes  an  aggressive  attitude,  challenges  this 
warrior,  and  demands  whether  he  is  friend  or  foe.  If 
friend,  he  must  explain  his  presence  ;  if  foe,  prepare 
for  battle.  Joshua  is  himself  a  thorough  soldier,  and 
will  allow  no  one  to  occupy  an  ambiguous  position. 
*'  And  Joshua  went  unto  him,  and  said  unto  him.  Art 
thou  for  us,  or  for  our  adversaries  ?  " 

If  the  appearance  of  the  soldier  was  a  surprise,  his 
answer  to  the  question  must  have  been  a  greater. 
''  Nay ;  but  as  Captain  of  the  host  of  the  Lord  am  I 
now  come."  The  *^  nay "  deprecates  his  being  either 
friend  or  foe  in  the  common  sense,  but  especially  his 
being  foe.  His  position  and  his  office  are  far  more 
exalted.  As  Captain  of  the  host  of  the  Lord,  he  is 
at  the  head,  not  of  human  armies,  but  of  all  the  princi- 
palities and  powers  of  heavenly  places, — 

*' The  mighty  regencies 
Of  seraphim,  and  potentates  and  thrones." 

And  now  the  real  situation  flashes  on  Joshua.  This 
soldier  is  no  other  than  the  Angel  of  the  Covenant, 
the  same  who  came  to  Abraham  under  the  oak  at 
Mamre,  and  that  wrestled  with  Jacob  on  the  banks 
of  this  very  Jordan  at  Peniel.  Joshua  could  not  but 
remember,  when  God  threatened  to  withdraw  from 
Israel  after  the  sin  of  the  golden  calf,  and  send  some 
created  angel  to  guide  them  through  the  wilderness, 
how  earnestly  Moses  remonstrated,  and  how  his  whole 
soul  was  thrown  into  the  pleading — **If  Thy  presence 
go  not  with  us,  carry  me  not  up  hence."     He  could 

9 


130  THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 

not  but  remember  the  intense  joy  of  Moses  when  this 
pleading  proved  successful — *'  My  presence  shall  go 
with  thee,  and  I  will  give  thee  rest."  There  could 
be  little  doubt  in  his  mind  who  this  *'  Captain  of  the 
host  of  Jehovah  "  was,  and  no  hesitation  on  his  part 
in  yielding  to  Him  the  Divine  honour  due  to  the  Most 
High.  And  then  he  must  have  felt  warmly  how  very 
kind  and  seasonable  this  appearance  was,  just  at  the 
very  moment  when  he  was  in  so  great  perplexity,  and 
when  his  path  was  utterly  dark.  It  was  a  new  proof 
that  man's  extremity  is  God's  opportunity.  It  was  just 
like  what  used  to  happen  afterwards,  when  '^  the  Word 
became  flesh  and  dwelt  among  us,"  and  was  so  promptly 
at  hand  for  His  disciples  in  all  times  of  their  tribulation. 
It  was  an  anticipation  of  the  scene  when  the  ship  was 
tossed  so  violently  on  the  waves,  and  Jesus  appeared 
with  His  *'  Peace,  be  still."  Or,  on  that  dreary  morning, 
soon  after  the  crucifixion,  after  they  had  spent  the  whole 
night  on  the  lake  and  caught  nothing,  when  Jesus 
came  and  brought  the  miraculous  draught  of  fishes  to 
their  nets.  It  is  the  truth  wuth  which  all  His  suffering 
and  stricken  children  have  been  made  so  familiar  in 
all  ages  of  the  Church's  history  : — that,  however  He  may 
seem  to  hide  Himself  and  stand  afar  off  in  times  of 
trouble,  He  is  in  reality  ever  near,  and  can  never  forget 
that  last  assurance  to  His  faithful  people — ''  Lo,  I  am 
with  you  alway,  even  to  the  end  of  the  world." 

It  is  not  likely  that  Joshua  found  any  cause  to  discuss 
the  question  that  modern  criticism  has  so  earnestly 
handled,  whether  this  being  that  now  appeared  in 
human  form  really  was  Jehovah.  And  as  little  does 
it  seem  necessary  for  us  to  discuss  it.  There  seems  no 
good  reason  to  reject  the  view  that  these  theophanies, 
though  not  incarnations,  were  yet  foreshadows  of  the 


V.  i3-vi.  I.]     THE  CAPTAIN   OF  THE  LORD'S  HOST.       131 

incarnation, — hints  of  the  mystery  afterwards  to  be 
realized  when  Jesus  was  born  of  Mary.  If  these 
appearances  looked  like  incarnations,  it  was  incarnation 
after  the  pagan,  not  the  Christian  type  ;  momentary 
alliances  of  the  Divine  being  with  the  human  form 
or  appearance,  assumed  merely  for  the  occasion,  and 
capable  of  being  thrown  aside  as  rapidly  as  they  were 
assumed.  This  might  do  very  well  to  foreshadow  the 
incarnation,  but  it  fell  a  long  way  short  of  the  incar- 
nation itself.  The  Christian  incarnation  was  after  a 
type  never  dreamt  of  by  the  pagan  mind.  That  the 
Son  of  God  should  be  born  of  a  w^oman,  His  body 
formed  in  the  womb  by  the  slow  but  wonderful  process 
which  '^  fashioned  all  His  members  in  continuance, 
when  as  yet  there  was  none  of  them  "  (Psalm  cxxxix.  16), 
and  that  He  should  thus  stand  in  relations  to  His 
fellow-men  that  could  not  be  obliterated,  was  very 
wonderful  ;  but  most  wonderful  of  all  that  the  manhood 
once  assumed  could  never  be  thrown  off,  but  that  the 
Son  of  God  must  continue  to  be  the  Son  of  man,  in 
two  distinct  natures  and  one  person  for  ever.  The 
fact  that  all  this  has  taken  place  is  well  fitted  to  give 
us  unshaken  confidence  in  the  love  and  sympathy  of 
our  Elder  Brother.  For  He  is  as  really  our  Brother 
as  He  ever  was  in  the  days  of  His  flesh,  and  as  full 
of  the  care  and  thoughtful  interest  that  the  kindest  of 
elder  brothers  takes  in  the  sorrows  and  struggles  of 
his  younger  brethren. 

It  has  often  been  remarked  as  an  instructive  circum- 
stance, that  now,  as  on  other  occasions,  the  Angel  of  the 
Lord  appeared  in  the  character  most  adapted  to  the 
circumstances  of  His  people.  He  appeared  as  a  soldier 
with  a  drawn  sword  in  His  hand.  A  long  course  of 
fighting   lay   before   the   Israelites  ere  they  could  get 


132  THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 

possession  of  their  land,  and  the  sword  in  the  hand  of 
the  Angel  was  an  assurance  that  He  would  fight  with 
them  and  for  them.  It  was  also  a  clear  intimation  that 
in  the  judgment  of  God,  it  was  necessar}^  to  use  the 
sword.  But  it  was  not  the  sword  of  the  ambitious 
warrior  who  falls  upon  men  simply  because  they  are 
in  his  way,  or  because  he  covets  their  territories  for  his 
country.  It  was  the  judicial  sword,  demanding  the 
death  of  men  who  had  been  tried  for  their  sins,  long 
warned,  and  at  last  judicially  condemned.  The  iniquity 
of  the  Amorites  was  now  full.  We  know  what  kind 
the  people  were  who  dwelt  near  Jericho  four  or  five 
hundred  years  before,  while  the  cities  of  Sodom  and 
Gomorrah  stood  in  the  plain,  cities  that  even  then  were 
reeking  with  the  foulest  corruption.  It  is  true  the 
judgment  of  God  came  down  on  these  cities,  but  bare 
judgments  have  never  reformed  the  world.  The 
destruction  of  Sodom  and  Gomorrah  removed  the 
foulest  stain-spot  for  the  time,  but  it  did  not  change 
the  hearts  nor  the  habits  of  the  nations.  It  has  seemed 
good  to  the  Spirit  of  God  to  give  us  one  glimpse  of  the 
foulness  that  had  been  reached  at  that  early  period,  but 
not  to  multiply  the  filthy  details  at  a  future  time, — 
after  the  long  interval  between  Abraham  and  Joshua. 
But  we  know  that  if  Sodom  was  bad,  Jericho  was  no 
better.  The  country  as  a  whole,  which  had  now  filled 
up  its  cup  of  iniquity,  was  no  better.  No  wonder  that 
the  Angel  bore  a  drawn  sword  in  His  hand.  The  long- 
suffering  of  the  righteous  God  was  exhausted,  and 
Joshua  and  his  people  were  the  instruments  by  whom 
the  judicial  punishment  was  to  be  inflicted.  The 
Captain  of  the  Lord's  host  had  drawn  His  sword  from 
its  scabbard  to  show  that  the  judgment  of  that  wicked 
people  was  to  slumber  no  more. 


V.  i3-vi.  I.]     THE  CAPTAIN  OF  THE  LORD'S  HOST.       133 


It  was  not  in  this  spirit  nor  in  this  attitude  that  the 
Angel  of  the  Covenant  had  met  with  Jacob,  centuries 
before,  a  Httle  higher  up  the  river,  at  the  confluence  of 
the  Jabbok.  Yet  there  was  not  a  Httle  that  was  similar 
in  the  two  meetings.  Like  Joshua  now,  Jacob  was  then 
about  to  enter  the  land  of  promise.  Like  him,  he  was 
confronted  by  an  enemy  in  possession,  who,  in  Jacob's 
case,  was  bent  on  avenging  the  wrong  of  his  youth. 
How  that  enemy  was  to  be  overcome  Jacob  knew  not, 
just  as  Joshua  knew  not  how  Jericho  was  to  be  taken. 
But  there  was  this  difference  between  the  two,  that  in 
Jacob's  case  the  Angel  dealt  with  him  as  an  opponent ; 
in  Joshua's  He  avowed  Himself  a  friend.  The  difference 
was  no  doubt  due  to  the  different  dispositions  of  the 
two  men.  Jacob  does  not  seem  to  have  felt  that  it  was 
only  in  God's  name,  and  in  God's  strength,  and  under 
God's  protection  that  he  could  enter  Canaan  ;  he  appears 
to  have  been  trusting  too  much  to  his  own  devices, — 
especially  to  the  munificent  present  which  he  had  for- 
warded to  his  brother.  He  must  be  taught  the  lesson 
''  Not  by  might,  nor  by  power,  but  by  My  Spirit,  saith 
the  Lord."  At  first  Jacob  dealt  with  his  opponent 
.simply  as  an  obstructionist ;  then  he  discovered  His 
Divine  rank,  and  immediately  he  became  the  aggressor, 
and,  spite  of  his  dislocated  thigh,  held  on  to  his 
opponent,  declaring  that  he  would  not  let  Him  go  except 
He  blessed  him.  It  is  otherwise  with  Joshua.  He  has 
no  personal  matter  to  settle  with  God  before  he  is  ready 
to  advance  into  the  land.  He  is  in  perplexity,  and  the 
Angel  comes  to  relieve  him.  It  is  neither  for  reproof 
nor  correction  but  simply  for  blessing  that  He  is  there. 

The  appearance  of  the  Angel  denoted  a  special  method 
of  communication  with  Joshua.  We  have  already  re- 
marked that  we   do  not  know  in  what  manner  God's 


134  THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 


communications  to  His  servant  were  made  before. 
This  incident  shows  that  the  ordinary  method  was  not 
that  of  personal  intercourse, — probably  it  was  that  of  im- 
pressions made  supernaturally  on  Joshua's  mind.  Why, 
then,  is  the  method  changed  now  ?  Why  does  this 
Warrior-angel  present  Himself  in  person  ?  Probably 
because  the  way  in  which  Jericho  was  to  be  taken  was 
so  extraordinary  that,  to  encourage  the  faith  of  Joshua 
and  the  people,  a  special  mode  of  announcement  had  to 
be  used.  One  might  have  thought  this  unnecessary 
after  the  display  of  Divine  power  at  the  crossing  of  the 
Jordan.  But  steadiness  of  faith  was  no  characteristic  of 
the  Israelites,  and  such  as  it  was  it  was  as  liable  to  fail 
after  crossing  the  Jordan  as  it  had  been  after  crossing 
the  sea.  Special  means  were  taken  to  invigorate  it 
and  fit  it  for  the  coming  strain.  It  was  one  of  those 
rare  occasions  when  a  personal  visit  from  the  Angel  o^ 
the  Covenant  was  desirable.  Something  visible  and 
tangible  was  needed,  something  which  might  be  spoken 
of  and  readily  understood  by  the  people,  and  which 
could  not  possibly  be  gainsayed. 

The  moment  that  Joshua  understood  with  whom  he 
was  conversing,  he  fell  on  his  face,  and  offered  to  his 
visitor  not  only  obeisance  but  worship,  which  the  visitor 
did  not  decline.  And  then  came  a  question  indicating 
profound  regard  for  his  Lord's  will,  and  readiness  to 
do  whatsoever  he  might  be  told — '^  What  saith  my  Lord 
unto  His  servant  }  "  It  cannot  but  remind  us  of  the 
question  put  by  Saul  to  the  Lord  while  yet  lying  on 
the  ground  on  the  way  to  Damascus — ''  Lord,  what 
wilt  Thou  have  me  to  do  ?  "  Joshua  compares  favour- 
ably with  Moses  at  the  burning  bush,  not  only  now, 
but  throughout  the  whole  interview.  No  word  of 
remonstrance  does  he  utter,  no  token  of  unwillingness 


V.  i3-vi.  I.]     THE   CAPTAIN  OF  THE  LORD'S  HOST.       135 

or  unbelief  does  he  show.     And  it  cannot  be  said  that 
the  instructions  which  the  Angel  gave  him  respecting 
the    taking    of  Jericho    were    of    a   kind    to    be  easily 
accepted.     The  course  to  be  followed  seemed  to  human 
wisdom  the  very  essence  of  silliness.     To  all  appear- 
ance there  was  not  a  vestige  of  adaptation  of  means 
to  the  end.     Yet  so  admirable  is  the  temper  of  Joshua, 
that  he  receives  all  with  absolute  and  perfect  submission. 
The  question  ^'  What  saith  my  Lord  unto  His  servant  ?  " 
is  very  far  from  mere  matter  of  courtesy.     It  is  a  first 
principle  with  Joshua  that  when  the  mind  of  God  is 
once  indicated   there  is  nothing  for  him   but  to  obey. 
What  is  he  that  he  should  dare  to  criticise  the  plans 
of  omnipotence  ?  that  he  should  propose  to  correct  and 
improve   the   methods  of  Divine  wisdom  ?      Anything 
of  the    kind    was    alike    preposterous    and    irreverent. 
"  Let  all  the  earth  fear  the  Lord  ;  let  all  the  inhabit- 
ants of  the  world  stand  in  awe  of  Him.     For  He  spake, 
and  it  was  done  ;  He  commanded,  and  it  stood  fast." 
'*  Thus   saith   the   high   and  lofty  One  that  inhabiteth 
eternity,  and  whose  name  is  Holy  :  I  dwell  in  the  high 
and  holy  place,  and  with  him  also  who  is  of  a  humble 
and  contrite  spirit,  and  who  trembleth  at  My  word." 

The  first  answer  to  the  question  "  What  saith  my 
Lord  unto  His  servant  ? "  is  somewhat  remarkable. 
''  Put  off  thy  shoes  from  off  thy  feet,  for  the  place  where- 
on thou  standest  is  hol}^"  Rationalists  have  explained 
this  as  meaning  that  this  was  an  ancient  shrine  of  the 
Canaanites,  and  therefore  a  place  holy  in  the  eyes  of 
Israel ;  but  such  an  idea  needs  no  refutation.  Others 
conceive  it  to  mean  that  Joshua,  having  crossed  the 
Jordan,  had  now  set  foot  on  the  land  promised  to  the 
fathers,  and  that  the  soil  for  that  reason  was  called 
holy.     But  if  that  was  the  reason  for  his  putting  off 


136  THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 


his  shoes,  it  is  difficult  to  see  how  he  could  ever  have 
been  justified  in  again  putting  them  on.  And  when 
God  called  to  Moses  out  of  the  bush  and  bade  him 
do  the  very  same  thing,  it  surely  was  not  because  the 
peninsula  of  Sinai  was  holy  ;  it  was  because  Moses 
stood  in  the  immediate  presence  of  the  holy  God.  And 
it  is  simply  to  remind  Joshua  of  the  Divine  presence 
that  this  command  is  given ;  and  being  given  it  is  no 
sooner  uttered  than  obeyed. 

And  then  follow  God's  instructions  for  the  taking 
of  Jericho.  Never  was  such  a  method  propounded  to 
reasonable  man,  or  one  more  open  to  the  objections 
and  exceptions  of  worldly  wisdom.  No  arrangement 
of  his  forces  could  have  been  more  open  to  objection 
than  that  which  God  required  of  him.  He  w^as  to 
march  round  Jericho  once  a  day  for  six  successive 
days,  and  seven  times  on  the  seventh  day,  the  priests 
carrying  the  ark  and  blowing  with  trumpets,  the  men 
of  war  going  before,  and  others  following  the  ark, 
making  a  long  narrow  line  round  the  place.  We  know 
that  the  city  was  provided  with  gates,  like  other  fortified 
cities.  What  was  there  to  prevent  the  men  of  Jericho 
from  sall3dng  out  at  each  of  the  gates,  breaking  up  the 
line  of  Israel  into  sections,  separating  them  from  each 
other,  and  inflicting  dreadful  slaughter  on  each  ?  Such 
a  march  round  the  city  seems  to  be  the  very  way 
to  invite  a  murderous  attack.  But  it  is  the"  Divine 
command.  And  this  process  of  surrounding  the  city 
is  to  be  carried  on  in  absolute  silence  on  the  part  of  the 
people,  with  no  noise  save  the  sounding  of  trumpets 
until  a  signal  is  given  ;  then  a  great  shout  is  to  be 
raised,  and  the  walls  of  Jericho  are  to  fall  down  flat 
on  the  ground.  Who  Vv^ould  have  thought  it  strange  if 
Joshua  had  been   somewhat  staggered  by  so  singular 


V.  i3-vi.  I.]     THE  CAPTAIN  OF  THE  LORD'S  HOST.       137 


directions,  and  if,  like  Moses  at  the  bush,  he  had 
suggested  all  manner  of  objections,  and  shown  the 
greatest  unwillingness  to  undertake  the  operation?  The 
noble  quaHty  of  his  faith  is  shown  in  his  raising  no  objec- 
tion at  all.  After  God  has  thus  answered  his  question, 
'^  What  saith  my  Lord  unto  His  servant  ?  "  he  is  just 
as  docile  and  submissive  as  he  was  before.  True  faith 
is  blind  to  everything  except  the  Divine  command. 
When  God  has  given  him  his  orders,  he  simply  com- 
municates them  to  the  priests  and  to  the  people.  He 
leaves  the  further  development  of  the  plan  in  God's 
hands,  assured  that  He  will  not  leave  His  purpose 
unfulfilled. 

Nor  do  the  priests  or  the  people  appear  to  have 
made  any  objection  on  their  part.  The  plan  no  doubt 
exposed  them  to  tv/o  things  which  men  do  not  like, 
ridicule  and  danger.  Possibly  the  ridicule  was  as  hard 
to  bear  as  the  danger.  God  would  protect  them  from 
the  danger,  but  who  would  shield  them  from  the 
ridicule  ?  Even  if  at  the  end  of  the  seven  da3^s,  the 
promised  result  should  take  place,  would  it  not  be  hard 
to  make  themselves  for  a  whole  week  the  sport  of  the 
men  of  Jericho,  who  would  ask  all  that  time  whether 
they  had  lost  their  senses,  whether  they  imagined  that 
they  would  terrify  them  into  surrender  by  the  sound  of 
their  rams'  horns  ?  How  often,  especially  in  the  case 
of  young  persons,  do  we  find  this  dread  of  ridicule  the 
greatest  obstacle  to  Christian  loyalty  ?  And  even 
where  they  have  the  strongest  conviction  that  ere  long 
the  laugh,  if  laughter  may  be  spoken  of  in  the  case, 
will  be  turned  against  their  tormentors,  and  that  it  will 
be  clearly  seen  who  the  men  are  whom  the  King 
delighteth  to  honour,  what  misery  is  caused  for  the 
time  by  ridicule,   and  how  often  do  the  young  prove 


138  THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 


traitors  to  Christ  rather  than  endure  it  ?  All  the  more 
remarkable  is  the  steadiness  of  the  priests  and  people 
on  this  occasion.  We  cannot  think  that  this  was  due 
simply  and  solely  to  their  loyalty  to  the  leader  to 
whom  they  had  recently  sworn  allegiance.  We  cannot 
but  believe  that  personal  faith  animated  many  of  them, 
the  same  faith  as  that  of  Joshua  himself  Their  wilder- 
ness training  and  trials  had  not  been  in  vain ;  the 
manifest  interposition  of  God  in  the  defeat  of  Sihon  and 
Og  had  sunk  into  their  hearts ;  the  miraculous  passage 
of  the  river  had  brought  God  very  near  to  them ;  and 
it  was  doubtless  in  a  large  measure  their  conviction 
that  He  who  had  begun  the  work  of  conquest  for  them 
would  carry  it  on  to  the  end,  that  procured  for  Joshua's 
announcement  the  unanimous  acquiescence  and  hearty 
support  alike  of  priests  and  people. 

And  hence,  too,  the  reason  why,  in  the  eleventh  chapter 
of  Hebrews,  the  falling  down  of  the  walls  of  Jericho  is 
specially  accounted  for  as  the  result  of  faith  :  ''  By 
faith  the  walls  of  Jericho  fell  down,  after  they  were 
compassed  about  seven  days "  (ver.  30).  The  act  of 
faith  lay  in  the  conviction  that  God,  who  had  prescribed 
the  method  of  attack,  foolish  though  it  seemed,  would 
infallibly  bring  it  to  a  successful  issue.  It  was  not 
merely  Joshua's  faith,  but  the  priests'  faith,  and  the 
people's  faith,  that  shone  in  the  transaction.  Faith 
repelled  the  idea  that  the  enemy  would  sally  forth  and 
break  their  ranks ;  it  triumphed  over  the  scorn  and 
ridicule  which  would  certainly  be  poured  on  them ;  it 
knew  that  God  had  given  the  directions,  and  it  was 
convinced  that  He  would  bring  all  to  a  triumphant 
issue.  Never  had  the  spiritual  thermometer  risen  so 
high  in  Israel,  and  seldom  did  it  rise  so  high  at  any 
future  period   of  their  history.     That   singular  week. 


i3-vi.i.]     THE  CAPTAIN  OF   THE  LORD'S  HOST.        139 


spent  in  marching  round  Jericho  again  and  again  and 
again,  was  one  of  the  most  remarkable  ever  known  ; 
the  people  were  near  heaven,  and  the  grace  and  peace 
of  heaven  seem  to  have  rested  on  their  hearts. 

We  sometimes  speak  of  *^ages  of  faith."  There 
have  been  times  when  the  disposition  to  believe  in  the 
unseen,  in  the  presence  and  power  of  God,  and  in  the 
certain  success  at  last  of  all  that  is  done  in  obedience 
to  His  will,  has  dominated  whole  communities,  and  led 
to  a  wonderful  measure  of  holy  obedience.  Such  a 
period  was  this  age  of  Joshua.  We  cannot  say,  thinking 
of  ourselves,  that  the  present  is  an  age  of  faith.  Rather, 
on  the  part  of  the  masses,  it  is  an  age  when  the  secular, 
the  visible,  the  present  lords  it  over  men's  minds.  Yet 
we  are  not  left  without  splendid  examples  of  faith. 
The  missionary  enterprise  that  contemplates  the  con- 
quest of  the  whole  world  for  Christ,  because  God  has 
given  to  His  Messiah  the  heathen  for  His  inheritance 
and  the  uttermost  part  of  the  earth  for  His  possession, 
and  that  looks  forward  to  the  day  when  this  promise 
shall  be  fulfilled  to  the  letter,  is  a  fruit  of  faith.  And 
the  ready  surrender  of  so  many  young  lives  for  the 
world's  evangelization,  as  missionaries,  and  teachers, 
and  medical  men  and  women,  is  a  crowning  proof 
that  faith  is  not  dead  among  us.  Would  only  it  were 
a  faith  that  pervaded  the  whole  community, — princes, 
priests,  and  people  alike  ;  and  that  there  w^ere  a  har- 
mony among  us  in  the  attack  on  the  strongholds  of  sin 
and  Satan  as  great  as  there  was  in  the  host  of  Israel 
when  the  people,  one  in  heart  and  one  in  hope, 
marched  out,  day  after  day,  round  the  walls  of  Jericho ! 


CHAPTER  XII. 

THE  FATE  OF  JERICHO. 
Joshua  vi.  8—27. 

THE  instructions  of  Joshua  to  the  priests  and  the 
people  are  promptly  obeyed.  In  the  bright  rays 
of  the  morning  sun,  on  the  day  when  Jericho  is  to  be 
surrounded,  the  plain  between  the  Jordan  and  Jericho, 
a  space  of  some  five  miles,  may  be  seen  dotted  over 
with  the  tents  of  Israel,  arranged  in  that  orderly  manner 
which  had  been  prescribed  by  Moses  in  the  wilderness. 
The  whole  encampment  is  astir  in  the  prospect  of  great 
events.  The  erect  carriage,  the  flashing  eye,  the  com- 
pressed lip  of  the  soldiers  show  that  something  great 
and  unusual  is  expected.  By-and-by,  there  is  a  stir 
near  the  spot  where  the  ark  rests,  and,  borne  on  the 
shoulders  of  the  priests,  the  sacred  vessel  is  seen  in 
motion  in  the  direction  of  Jericho.  Right  in  front  of 
it  are  seven  priests  carrying  trumpets  of  rams'  horns, 
or,  as  some  render  it,  jubilee  horns.  The  procession 
of  the  ark  halts  a  little,  till  a  body  of  armed  men 
advance  and  form  in  front  of  it.  Others  of  the  people 
take  up  their  places  in  the  rear.  The  seven  priests 
sound  their  trumpets,  and  the  procession  moves  on. 
Their  course  is  round  the  walls  of  Jericho,  far  enough 
removed  to  be  beyond  the  reach  of  the  arrows  of  its 
defenders.  Not  a  shout  is  raised.  Not  a  sound  is 
heard,  save  that  of  the  trumpets  of  the  seven  priests. 

140 


vi.8-27,]  THE  FATE  OF  JERICHO.  141 

At  last  the  procession  returns  to  the  camp,  leaving 
Jericho  just  as  it  found  it.  Next  day  the  same  process 
is  repeated  ;  and  the  next,  and  the  next,  on  to  the 
sixth.  On  the  seventh  day,  the  march  begins  early 
and  is  continued  late.  The  spirits  of  the  people  are 
sustained  during  their  weary,  monotonous  tramp  by  the 
expectation  of  a  crisis.  At  length,  when  the  seventh 
circuit  has  been  made,  the  signal  is  given  by  Joshua. 
The  air  is  rent  with  the  shouts  of  the  people  and  the 
noise  of  the  trumpets,  and  immediately,  all  round,  the 
wall  falls  flat  to  the  ground,  and  the  people  march 
straight  into  the  city.  Paralysed  with  astonishment 
and  terror,  the  inhabitants  are  unable  to  resist,  and 
lie,  men,  women  and  children,  at  the  mercy  of  their 
assailants.  And  the  instructions  to  the  Israelites  are 
to  destroy  everything  that  is  in  the  city,  both  man 
and  woman,  young  and  old,  ox  and  sheep  and  ass,  with 
the  edge  of  the  sword.  As  for  the  more  solid  part  of 
the  spoil,  the  silver  and  the  gold  and  the  vessels  of 
brass  and  iron,  they  are  *'  devoted  "  to  the  service  of 
God  (the  Authorized  translation  unhappily  uses  the 
word  ^'  accursed  ").  No  one  is  to  appropriate  a  single 
article  to  his  own  use.  An  exception  to  the  universal 
massacre  was  to  take  place  only  in  the  case  of  the 
harlot  Rahab,  who  was  to  be  saved,  with  all  her 
relations,  in  accordance  v/ith  the  solemn  promise  of  the 
spies. 

There  is  no  difficulty  in  perceiving  the  great  lesson 
for  all  time  to  be  derived  from  this  extraordinary  trans- 
action, or  the  great  law  of  the  kingdom  of  God  that 
was  made  so  conspicuous  by  it.  When  we  have  clear 
indications  of  the  Divine  mind  as  to  any  course  of 
action,  we  are  to  advance  to  it  promptly  and  without 
fear,   even  though  the  means  at  our  disposal  appear 


142  THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 


utterly  inadequate  to  the  object  sought  to  be  gained. 
No  man  goeth  a  warfare  at  his  own  charges  in  the 
service  of  God.  The  resources  of  infinite  power  avail 
for  that  service,  and  they  are  sure  to  be  brought  into 
play  if  it  be  undertaken  for  God's  glory,  and  in  accord- 
ance with  His  will.  Who  could  have  supposed  that 
the  fishermen  of  Galilee  would  in  the  end  triumph 
over  all  the  might  of  kings  and  rulers ;  over  all  the 
influence  of  priesthoods  and  systems  of  worship 
enshrined  in  the  traditions  of  centuries ;  over  all  the 
learning  and  intellect  of  the  philosopher,  and  over  all 
the  prejudices  and  passions  of  the  multitude  ?  The 
secret  lay  manifestly  in  the  promise  of  Jesus — "Lo,  I 
am  with  you  alway,  even  to  the  end  of  the  world." 
Who  could  have  thought  that  the  efforts  of  a  poor 
German  student  in  Berlin,  on  behalf  of  some  neglected 
children,  would  expand  into  the  widespread  and  well- 
rooted  '*  Inner  Mission "  of  Wichern  ?  Or  that  the 
concern  of  a  prison  chaplain  for  the  welfare  of  some  of 
the  prisoners  after  their  release  would  develop  into  the 
worldwide  work  of  Fliedner  ?  Or  that  the  distress  of 
a  kind-hearted  medical  student  in  London  for  a  batch 
of  poor  boys  who  '*  didn't  live  nowhere,"  and  whose 
pale  faces,  as  they  lay  on  a  cold  night  on  the  roof 
of  a  shed,  stirred  in  him  an  irrepressible  compassion, 
would  give  birth  to  one  of  the  marvels  of  London  philan- 
thropy,— Dr.  Barnardo's  twenty  institutions,  caring  for 
three  to  four  thousand  children,  in  connection  with 
which  the  announcement  could  be  made  that  no  really 
destitute  child  was  ever  turned  from  its  doors  ?  When 
Carey  on  his  shoemaker's  stool  contemplated  the  evan- 
gelization of  India,  there  was  as  great  a  gulf  between 
the  end  and  the  apparent  means,  as  when  the  priests 
blew  with  their  rams'  horns  round  the  walls  of  Jericho. 


vi.  8-270  THE  FATE  OF  JERICHO.  143 


But  Carey  felt  it  to  be  a  Divine  command,  and  Joshua- 
like set  himself  to  obey  it,  leaving  to  God  from  whom 
it  came  to  furnish  the  power  by  which  the  work  was 
to  be  done.  And  wherever  there  have  been  found  men 
and  women  of  strong  faith  in  God,  who  have  looked 
on  His  will  as  recorded  in  the  Scriptures  with  as  much 
reverence  as  if  it  had  been  announced  personally  to 
themselves,  and  who  have  set  themselves  to  obey  that 
will  with  a  sense  of  its  reality,  and  a  faith  in  God's 
promised  help,  like  that  of  Joshua  as  the  priests  marched 
round  Jericho,  the  same  result  has  been  realized ; 
before  Zerubbabel  the  great  mountain  has  become  a 
plain,  and  success  has  been  achieved  worthy  of  the 
acknowledgment — ^'  The  Lord  hath  done  great  things 
for  us,  whereof  we  are  glad." 

Far  more  effectual  has  this  brave  and  thorough 
method  of  doing  the  Divine  will  proved  than  all  the 
contrivances  of  compromise  and  worldly  wisdom.  The 
attempt  to  serve  two  masters  has  never  proved  either 
dignified  or  permanently  successful.  '^  If  the  Lord 
be  God,  follow  Him  ;  but  if  Baal,  then  follow  him,  ;  " 
but  do  not  attempt  to  combine  in  one  what  will  please 
God  and  Baal  too.  It  is  the  single  eye  that  is  full 
of  light,  and  full  of  blessing.  If  God  really  is  our 
Master,  all  the  resources  of  heaven  and  earth  are  at 
our  back.  If  we  are  able  to  go  forward  in  sole  and 
simple  reliance  on  His  might,  as  David  did  in  the 
conflict  with  Goliath,  all  will  go  well.  If  we  waver 
in  our  trust  in  Him,  if  we  fly  to  the  resources  of  human 
policy,  if  we  seek  deliverance  from  present  evil  at 
whatever  cost,  we  arrest,  as  it  were,  the  electric  current 
flowing  from  heaven,  and  become  weak  as  other  men. 
Still  more  if  we  are  guilty  of  deceit  and  cunning. 
How   different   was    David    confronting   Goliath,    and 


144  THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 

David  feigning  madness  before  King  Achish  !  In  the 
one  case  a  noble  hero,  in  the  other  a  timid,  faltering 
child.  It  is  a  dear  price  we  pay  for  present  safety 
or  convenience  when  we  forfeit  the  approval  of  our 
conscience  and  the  favour  of  God.  It  is  a  sublime 
attitude  that  faith  takes  up  even  in  the  face  of  over- 
whelming danger — ''  Lord,  it  is  nothing  with  Thee 
to  help,  whether  with  many,  or  with  them  that  have 
no  power  :  help  us,  O  Lord  our  God  ;  for  we  rest 
on  Thee,  and  in  Thy  name  we  go  against  this  multitude. 
O  Lord,  Thou  art  our  God  ;  let  not  man  prevail  against 
Thee  "  (2  Chron.  xiv.  1 1). 

This,  however,  is  but  one  half  the  lesson  of  the  siege 
of  Jericho.  The  other  and  not  less  valuable  lesson  is, 
that  in  many  good  enterprises,  all  that  is  done  may 
appear  for  a  long  time  to  be  labour  lost,  and  not  to 
advance  us  by  one  step  nearer  to  the  object  in  view. 
For  six  days  the  priests  carried  the  ark  round  Jericho, 
but  not  one  stone  was  loosened  from  the  walls,  not  by 
one  iota  did  the  defences  seem  to  yield.  Six  times 
on  the '•  seventh  day  there  was  an  equally  complete 
want  of  result.  Nay,  the  seventh  perambulation  on 
the  seventh  day  appeared  to  be  equally  unsuccessful, 
until  the  very  last  moment ;  but  when  that  moment 
came,  the  whole  defences  of  the  city  came  tumbling 
to  the  ground.  It  is  often  God's  method  to  do  a  great 
deal  of  work  unseen,  and  then  on  a  sudden  effect  the 
consummation.  And  whenever  we  are  working  in 
accordance  with  God's  will,  it  is  our  encouragement 
to  believe  that  though  our  visible  success  is  hardly 
appreciable,  yet  good  and  real  work  is  done.  For 
one  day  is  with  the  Lord  as  a  thousand  years,  and 
a  thousand  years  as  one  day.  Sometimes  in  a  thousand 
years  God  does  not  seem  to  accomplish  a  good  day's 


vi.8-27.]  THE  FATE  OF  JERICHO.  145 


work,  but  at  other  times  in  a  single  day  He  does  the 
work  of  a  thousand  years.  The  reformation  of  the 
Church  in  the  Middle  Ages, — how  little  progress  it 
seemed  to  make  during  weary  centuries  ;  and  even  when 
victory  seemed  to  be  drawing  nigh,  how  thoroughly 
was  it  arrested  by  the  martyrdom  of  Huss  and  Jerome 
in  Bohemia,  the  extinction  of  the  light  of  Wicliffe  in 
England,  and  the  suppression  of  the  Lollards  in 
Scotland !  And  when  in  Providence  some  causes 
began  to  operate  that  seemed  to  have  a  bearing  on 
the  desired  consummation,  such  as  the  invention  of 
printing,  the  revival  of  learning,  and  the  love  of 
freedom,  how  feebly  they  seemed  to  operate  in  opposi- 
tion to  that  overwhelming  force  which  the  Papacy  had 
been  accumulating  for  centuries,  and  which  nothing 
seemed  able  to  touch  !  But  when  Luther  appeared, 
nailed  his  theses  to  the  door  of  the  church  at  Wittem- 
berg,  and  took  up  the  bold  attitude  of  an  out-and-out 
opponent  to  Rome,  in  one  hour  the  Church  was  struck 
as  with  an  earthquake ;  it  reeled  to  its  foundations,  and 
half  of  the  proud  structure  fell.  The  conflict  with 
American  slavery,  how  slowly  it  advanced  for  many 
a  year,  nay,  at  times  it  seemed  to  be  even  losing 
ground  ;  till  in  the  midst  of  the  great  Civil  War  the 
President  signed  a  certain  proclamation,  and  in  one 
moment  American  slavery  received  its  death  blow.  An 
eminent  historian  of  England  has  a  striking  picture  of 
the  slow,  steady,  av/ful  triumph  of  iniquity  in  the  career 
of  Cardinal  Wolsey,  and  the  sudden  collapse  of  the 
structure  built  up  so  carefully  by  that  wicked  man. 
Speaking  of  the  final  retribution,  he  says  :  ''  The  time 
of  reckoning  at  length  was  arrived.  Slowly  the  hand 
had  crawled  along  the  dial  plate,  slowly  as  if  the  event 
would  never  come,  and  wrong  was  heaped  on  wrong, 

10 


146  THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 


and  oppression  cried,  and  it  seemed  as  if  no  ear  had 
heard  its  voice,  till  the  measure  of  the  wickedness  was 
at  length  fulfilled  ;  the  finger  touched  the  hour,  and  as 
the  strokes  of  the  great  hammer  rang  out  above  the 
nation,  in  an  instant  the  mighty  fabric  of  iniquity  was 
shivered  to  ruins." 

It  is  the  prerogative  of  faith  to  believe  that  the  same 
law  of  Providence  is  ever  in   operation,  and  that  the 
rapidity  with  which  some  great  drama  is  to  be  wound 
up  may  be  as  striking  as  the  slowness  of  its  movement 
was  trying  in  its  earlier  stages.     May  we  not  be  living 
in   an  age  destined  to   furnish  another  great  example 
of  this  law  ?     The  years  as  they  pass  seem  laden  with 
great  events,  and  we  seem  to  hear  the  angel  that  hath 
power  over  fire   calling  to   the   angel  with   the   sharp 
sickle, — *'  Thrust  in  thy  sharp  sickle,  and  gather  the 
clusters  of  the  vine  of  the  earth,  for  the  grapes  thereof 
are  fully  ripe."     We  cannot  tell  but  before  a  year  ends 
some  grand  purpose  of  Providence  shall  be  accomplished, 
the  death  blow  given   to   some  system  of  force   or  of 
fraud  that  has  scourged  the  earth  for  centuries,  or  some 
great  prophetic  cycle  completed  for  which  Simeons  and 
Annas  have  been  watching  more  than  they  that  watch 
for  the  morning.     God  hasten  the  day  when  on  every 
side  truth  shall  finally  triumph  over  error,  good  over 
evil,  peace  over  strife,  love  over  selfishness,  and  order 
over  confusion  ;  and  when  from  every  section  of  God's 
great  but  scattered  family  the  shout  of  triumph  shall  go 
up,  ''Alleluia  :  for  the  Lord  God  omnipotent  reigneth." 

But  let  us  return  to  the  narrative  of  the  fall  of  Jericho, 
and  advert  to  two  of  the  difficulties  that  have  occurred 
to  many  minds  in  connection  with  it  ;  one  of  compar- 
atively little  moment,  but  another  of  far  more  serious 
import. 


vi.8-27.]  THE  FATE  OF  JERICHO.  147 


The  lesser  difficulty  is  connected  with  the  order  to 
march  round  Jericho  for  seven  successive  days.  Was 
it  not  contrary  to  the  spirit  of  the  law  to  make  no 
difference  on  the  Sabbath  ?  As  the  narrative  reads  we 
are  led  to  think  that  the  Sabbath  was  the  last  of  the 
seven  days,  in  which  case,  instead  of  a  cessation  of 
labour,  there  was  an  increase  of  it  sevenfold.  Possibly 
this  may  be  a  mistake ;  but  at  the  least  it  seems  as  if, 
all  days  being  treated  alike,  there  was  a  neglect  of  the 
precept,  ^*  In  it  thou  shalt  not  do  any  work." 

To  this  it  has  usually  been  replied  that  the  law  of 
the  Sabbath  being  only  a  matter  of  arrangement,  and 
not  founded  on  any  unchangeable  obligation,  it  was 
quite  competent  for  God  to  suspend  it  or  for  a  time 
repeal  it,  if  occasion  required.  The  present  instance 
has  been  viewed  as  one  of  those  exceptional  occasions 
when  the  obligation  to  do  no  work  was  suspended  for 
a  time.  But  this  is  hardly  a  satisfactory  explanation. 
Was  it  likely  that  immediately  after  God  had  so 
solemnly  charged  Joshua  respecting  the  book  of  the 
law,  that  it  was  ''  not  to  depart  out  of  his  mouth,  but 
he  was  to  meditate  therein  day  and  night,  to  observe 
to  do  according  to  all  that  was  written  therein,"  that 
almost  on  the  first  occurrence  of  a  public  national 
interest  He  would  direct  him  to  disregard  the  law  of 
the  Sabbath  ?  Or  was  it  likely  that  now  that  the 
people  were  about  to  get  possession  of  the  land,  under 
the  most  sacred  obligation  to  frame  both  their  national 
and  their  personal  life  by  the  Divine  law,  one  of  the 
most  outstanding  requirements  of  that  law  should  be 
even  temporarily  superseded  ?  We  cannot  help  think- 
ing that  it  is  in  another  direction  that  we  must  look  for 
the  solution  of  this  difficulty. 

And  what   seems  the  just   explanation  is,  that   this 


148  THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 


solemn  procession  of  the  ark  was  really  an  act  of 
worship,  a  very  public  and  solemn  act  of  worship,  and 
that  therefore  the  labour  which  it  involved  was  altogether 
justifiable,  just  as  the  Sabbath  labour  involved  in  the 
offering  of  the  daily  sacrifices  could  not  be  objected  to. 
It  was  a  very  solemn  and  open  demonstration  of  honour 
to  that  great  Being  in  whom  Israel  trusted — of  obedience 
to  His  word,  and  unfaltering  confidence  that  He  would 
show  Himself  the  God  of  His  chosen  people.  At  every 
step  of  their  march  the}^  might  well  have  sung — ''I 
will  lift  up  mine  eyes  unto  the  hills,  from  whence  cometh 
my  help."  The  absurdity  of  their  proceeding  to  the 
eye  of  flesh  invested  it  with  a  high  sanctity,  because 
it  testified  to  a  conviction  that  the  presence  of  that  God 
who  dwelt  symbolically  in  the  ark  would  more  than 
compensate  for  all  the  feebleness  and  even  apparent 
silliness  of  the  plan.  It  was  indeed  an  exception  to 
the  usual  way  of  keeping  the  Sabbath,  but  an  exception 
that  maintained  and  exalted  the  honour  of  God.  And, 
in  a  sense,  it  might  be  called  resting,  inasmuch  as  no 
aggressive  operations  of  any  kind  were  carried  on ;  it 
was  simply  a  waiting  on  God,  waiting  till  He  should 
arise  out  of  His  place,  and  cause  it  to  be  seen  that 
"  Israel  got  not  the  land  in  possession  by  their  own 
sword,  neither  did  their  own  arm  save  them  :  but  Thy 
right  hand,  and  Thine  arm,  and  the  light  of  Thy 
countenance,  because  Thou  hadst  a  favour  unto  them  " 
(Psalm  xliv.  3). 

A  more  serious  objection  in  the  eyes  of  many  is  that 
which  is  founded  on  the  promiscuous  massacre  of  the 
people"of  Jericho,  which,  according  to  the  narrative,  the 
Israelites  were  ordered  to  make.  And  it  is  not  won- 
derful that,  with  the  remarkable  sense  of  the  sanctity 
of  human  life  attained  in  our  country  and  in  our  age, 


vi.8-27.]  THE  FATE  OF  JERICHO.  149 

and  the  intense  horror  which  we  have  at  scenes  of 
blood  and  death,  the  idea  of  this  slaughter  should  excite 
a  strong  feeling  of  repugnance.  For  in  truth  human 
life  has  never  been  held  so  sacred  among  men  as  it  is 
in  these  our  days  and  in  this  our  island,  where  by  the 
mercy  of  God  war  and  bloodshed  have  been  unknown 
for  nearly  a  century  and  a  half  We  must  remember 
that  three  thousand  years  ago,  and  in  the  tumultuous 
regions  of  the  East,  such  a  sentiment  was  unknown. 
The  massacre  of  one  tribe  by  another  was  an  event  of 
frequent  occurrence,  and  so  little  thought  of  that  a  year 
or  two  after  its  occurrence  the  survivors  of  the  massacre 
might  be  found  on  perfectly  good  terms  with  those  who 
had  committed  it.  This  of  course  does  not  affect  the 
righteousness  of  the  sentence  executed  on  the  men  of 
Jericho,  but  it  shows  that  as  executioners  of  that 
sentence  the  Israelites  were  not  exposed  either  to  the 
harrowing  or  the  hardening  influence  which  would  now 
be  inseparable  from  such  a  work. 

We  reserve  the  general  question  for  consideration 
further  on.^  We  confine  ourselves  for  the  present  to 
the  inquiry.  Why  was  Jericho  singled  out  for  treatment 
so  specially  severe  ?  Not  only  were  all  its  inhabitants 
put  to  the  sword,  as  indeed  the  inhabitants  of  other 
cities  were  too,  but  the  city  was  burnt  with  fire,  and 
a  special  curse  was  pronounced  upon  any  one  that 
should  set  up  its  gates  and  its  walls.  Of  only  two 
other  cities  do  we  read  that  they  were  destroyed  in  this 
way — Ai  and  Razor  (viii.  28,  xi.  13).  And  in  regard 
to  all  the  three  we  may  see  special  considerations 
dictating  Joshua's  course.  Jericho  and  Ai  were  the 
first  two  cities  taken  by  him,  and  it  may  have   been 

^  See  Chapter  XXXL,  "  Jehovah  the  Champion  of  Israel." 


I50  THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 

useful   to  set  an   example    of  severity  in    their   case. 
Hazor   was   the    centre   of   a   conspiracy,    and    being 
situated   in  the   extreme   north,  its  fate  might  read  a 
lesson  to  those  who  were  too  far  from  Jericho  and  Ai 
to  see  what  had  happened  there.     But  in  the  case  of 
Jericho  there  was  another  consideration.     Gilgal,  which 
Joshua  had  made  his  headquarters,  was  but  three  or 
four  miles  distant.     At  that  place  there  were  no  doubt 
gathered  a  great  part  of  the  flocks  and  herds  of  the 
Israelites,  with  the  women  and  children,  as  well  as  the 
ark  and  [the  sacred  tabernacle.     It  was  necessary  to 
prevent  the  possibility  of  a  fortress  being  again  erected 
at  Jericho.     For  if  it  should  fall  into  the  enemy's  hands, 
it  would  endanger  the  very  existence  of  Gilgal.     We 
shall   see   in   the  after  part   of  the  narrative  that  the 
policy  of  sparing  the  towns  even  when  the  inhabitants 
were  destroyed  proved  a  mistake,  and  was  very  disas- 
trous  to   the   Israelites.     We   shall  find   that   in   very 
many  cases,  while  Joshua  was  occupied  elsewhere,  the 
towns  were  taken  possession  of  anew  by  the  Canaanites, 
and  new  troubles  befell  the   Israelites.     For  Joshua's 
conquest  was  not  a  complete   subjugation,   and   much 
remained  to  be  done  by  each  tribe  in  its  settlement  in 
order  to  get  quit  of  the  old  inhabitants.     It  was  the 
failure  of  most  of  the  tribes  to  do  their  part  in  this 
process  that  led  to  most  of  the  troubles  in  the  future 
history   of  Israel,    both   in   the   way   of  temptation   to 
idolatry  and  in  the  form  of  actual  war. 

The  only  things  saved  from  utter  destruction  at  Jericho 
were  the  gold  and  the  silver  and  other  metallic  sub- 
stances, which  were  put  into  the  treasury  of  the  house 
of  the  Lord.  The  fact  that  the  ^*  house  of  the  Lord," 
situated  at  this  time  at  Gilgal,  was  an  establishment 
of  such  size  as  to  be  able  to  emplo}^  all  these  things 


vi.8-27.]  THE  FATE  OF  JERICHO.  151 


in  its  service  refutes  the  assertion  of  those  critics  who 
would  make  out  that  at  the  settlement  in  Canaan  there 
was  no  place  that  might  be  called  emphatically  ''  the 
house  of  the  Lord."  It  indicates  that  the  arrangements 
for  worship  were  on  a  large  scale, — a  fact  which  is 
confirmed  afterwards  by  the  circumstance  that  the 
Gibeonites  were  assigned  by  Joshua  to  be  ''  hewers  of 
wood  and  drawers  of  water  for  the  house  of  my  God^ 
If  little  is  said  about  the  arrangements  for  worship  in 
the  Book  of  Joshua,  it  is  because  the  one  object  of  the 
book  is  to  record  the  settlement  of  the  nation  in  the 
country.  If  it  were  true  that  the  book  was  overhauled 
by  some  priestly  writer  who  took  every  opportunity 
of  magnifying  his  office,  he  must  have  done  his  work 
in  a  strange  manner.  We  find  in  it  such  hints  as  we 
have  noticed  showing  that  the  service  of  the  sanctuary 
was  not  neglected,  but  we  have  none  of  those  full  or 
formal  details  that  would  have  been  given  if  a  writer 
with  such  a  purpose  had  worked  over  the  book. 

We  hear  of  Jericho  from  time  to  time  as  a  place 
of  abode  both  in  the  Old  Testament  and  in  the  New  ; 
but  when  Hiel  the  Bethelite  rebuilt  it  with  walls  and 
gates,  '*  he  laid  the  foundation  thereof  in  Abiram  his 
firstborn,  and  set  up  the  gates  thereof  in  his  youngest 
son  Segub,  according  to  the  word  of  the  Lord,  which  He 
spake  by  Joshua  the  son  of  Nun  "  ( i  Kings  xvi.  34). 
It  was  ordained  that  that  first  fortress  which  had  with- 
stood the  people  of  God  on  the  west  of  Jordan  should 
remain  a  perpetual  desolation.  As  the  stones  set  up 
in  the  channel  and  on  the  banks  of  the  river  witnessed 
to  future  generations  of  God's  care  for  His  own  people, 
so  the  stones  of  Jericho  cast  down  and  lying  in  ruined 
heaps  were  designed  to  testify  to  the  dread  retribution 
that   overtook  the   guilty.      The   two  great  lessons  of 


152  THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 


Providence  from  Jericho  are,  the  certainty  of  the  reward 
of  faith  and  obedience  on  the  one  hand,  and  of  the 
punishment  of  wickedness  on  the  other.  The  words 
which  Balaam  had  proclaimed  from  the  top  of  the 
mountain  on  the  other  side  now  received  their  first 
fulfilment : — 

"  How  goodly  are  thy  tents,  O  Jacob,  - 
Thy  tabernacles,  O  Israel !  .  .  . 
God  bringeth  him  forth  out  of  Egypt ; 
He  hath,  as  it  were,  the  strength  of  the  wild  ox  ; 
He  shall  eat  up  the  nations  his  adversaries, 
And  shall  break  their  bones  in  pieces, 
And  smite  them  through  with  His  arrows." 


i 


I 


CHAPTER     XIII. 

RAHAB   SAVED. 
Joshua  vi.   17,  22 — 25. 

T  has  not  been  the  lot  of  Rahab  to  share  the 
devout  interest  which  has  been  lavished  on  Mary 
Magdalene.  Our  Correggios,  Titians,  and  Carlo  Dolcis 
have  not  attempted  to  represent  the  spirit  of  contrition 
and  devotion  transfiguring  the  face  of  the  Canaanite 
girl.  And  this  is  not  surprising.  Rahab  had  never 
seen  the  human  face  of  Jesus,  nor  heard  the  words  that 
dropped  like  honey  from  His  lips.  She  had  never  come 
under  that  inexpressible  charm  which  lay  in  the  bearing 
of  the  living  Jesus,  the  charm  that  made  so  remark- 
able a  change  not  only  on  the  "  woman  that  was  a 
sinner/'  but  on  Zaccheus,  on  Peter  in  the  high  priest's 
hall,  on  the  penitent  thief,  and  on  Saul  of  Tarsus  on 
the  way  to  Damascus.  For  there  was  a  wonderful 
power  in  the  very  looks  and  tones  of  Jesus  to  touch 
the  heart,  and  thereby  to  throw  a  new  light  on  all 
one's  past  life,  making  sin  look  black  and  odious, 
and  inspiring  an  intense  desire  for  resemblance  to 
Him  who  was  so  much  fairer  than  all  the  children  of 
men.  Rahab  had  never  seen  the  Divine  image  in  any 
purer  form  than  it  appeared  in  Joshua  and  men  and 
women  like-minded  with  him. 

But  though  she  was  not  one  of  those  whose  contrite 
and  holy  love  painters  delight  to  represent,  she  belonged 

153 


154  THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA 


to  the  same  order,  and  in  some  respects  is  more 
remarkable  than  any  of  the  New  Testament  penitents. 
For  her  Hght  was  much  dimmer  than  theirs  who  Hved 
in  the  days  of  the  Son  of  man.  She  was  utterly 
without  support  or  sympathy  from  those  among  whom 
she  lived,  for  with  the  exception  of  her  own  relations 
who  seem  to  have  been  influenced  by  herself,  not  a 
creature  in  Jericho  shared  her  faith,  or  showed  the 
slightest  regard  for  the  God  of  Israel. 

But  the  time  has  now  come  for  her  to  reap  the 
reward  of  her  faith  and  its  works.  In  her  case  there 
was  but  a  short  interval  between  the  sowing  and  the 
reaping.  And  God  showed  Himself  able  to  do  in 
her  exceeding  abundantly  above  what  she  could  ask 
or  think.  For  she  was  not  only  protected  when 
Jericho  and  all  its  people  were  destroyed,  but  in- 
corporated with  the  children  of  Israel.  She  became 
an  heir  of  Abraham's  blessing ;  she  came  among  those 
''  to  whom  pertained  the  adoption,  and  the  glory,  and 
the  covenants,  and  the  giving  of  the  law,  and  the  service 
of  God,  and  the  promises."  An  old  tradition  made 
her  the  wife  of  Joshua,  but,  according  to  the  genealogies 
she  married  Salmon  (Matt.  i.  5),  prince  of  the  imperial 
tribe  of  Judah,  great-grandfather  of  David,  and  ancestor 
of  the  Messiah.  In  the  golden  roll  of  the  eleventh 
chapter  of  Hebrews,  she  is  the  only  woman  who  shares 
with  Sarah,  the  great  mother  of  the  nation,  the  honour 
of  a  place  among  the  heroes  of  the  faith.  Such  honours 
could  not  have  been  attained  by  her  had  she  not  been 
a  changed  character, — one  of  those  who  erewhile  ^^  had 
lain  among  the  pots,  but  who  became  like  the  wings 
of  a  dove  covered  with  silver  and  her  feathers  with 
3^ellow  gold." 

Very  special  mention  is  made  of  her  in  the  narrative 


vi.  17, 22-25.]  RAHAB  SAVED.  155 

of  the  destruction  of  Jericho.  In  the  first  place,  before 
the  overthrow  of  the  city,  Joshua  gives  particular  in- 
structions regarding  her,  accepting  very  readily  the 
promise  that  had  been  made  to  her  by  the  two  spies. 
If  Joshua  had  been  a  man  of  unreasonable  temper,  he 
might  have  refused  to  ratify  their  action  in  her  case. 
He  might  have  said  that  God  had  doomed  the  whole 
inhabitants  of  the  city  to  destruction,  and  as  no  in- 
structions had  been  given  by  Him  to  spare  Rahab,  she 
must  share  the  doom  of  the  rest.  But  Joshua  at  once 
recognised  the  propriety  of  an  exception  in  favour  of 
one  who  had  shown  such  faith,  and  who  had  rendered 
such  service  to  the  spies  and  to  the  nation  ;  and,  more- 
over, he  looked  on  the  promise  made  by  the  spies  as 
reasonable,  for  it  would  have  been  gross  tyranny  to  send 
them  on  such  an  errand  without  power  to  make  fair  com- 
pensation for  any  assistance  they  might  receive.  Yet 
how  often  have  promises  made  in  danger  been  broken 
when  the  danger  w^as  past !  Rahab  must  have  known 
that  had  it  been  some  Canaanite  chief  and  not  Joshua 
that  had  to  decide  her  fate,  he  would  have  scorned 
the  promise  of  the  spies,  and  consigned  her  to  the 
general  doom.  She  must  have  been  impressed  with 
the  honourable  conduct  of  Joshua  in  so  cordially 
endorsing  the  promise  of  the  spies,  and  thought  well  of 
his  religion  on  that  account.  Honour  and  religion  go 
well  together ;  meanness  and  religion  breed  contempt. 
We  see  meanness  with  a  religious  profession  culminat- 
ing in  the  treachery  of  Judas.  We  see  honour  in 
alliance  with  religion  culminating  in  the  Garden  of 
Gethsemane,  when  the  bleeding  Sufferer  rallied  His 
fainting  courage  and  stood  firm  to  His  undertaking — 
"  The  cup  which  My  Father  hath  given  Me,  shall  I  not 
drink  it  ?  " 


156  THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 

No  doubt  the  scarlet  cord  was  hung  from  her  window, 
as  had  been  arranged  with  the  spies,  and  the  IsraeHtes, 
when  they  saw  it,  would  be  reminded  of  the  blood  of 
the  lamb  sprinkled  on  their  door  posts  and  lintels  when 
the  destroying  angel   passed  through  Egypt.     It  was 
the    two   men   who    had    acted    as    spies    that  Joshua 
instructed  to  enter  her  house,  and  bring  out  the  woman 
and  all   that   she   had.     And  a  happy  woman  she  no 
doubt  was  when  she  saw  the  faces  of  her  old  guests, 
and  under  their  protection  was  brought  out  with  all  her 
kindred  and  all  that  she  had  and  led  to  a  place  of  safety. 
It  is  a  blessed  time,  after  you  have  stood  fast  to  duty 
while  many  have  failed,    when    the    hour   comes   that 
brings  you  peace  and  blessing,  while  it  carries  confusion 
and  misery  to  the  faithless.     How  thankful  one  is  at 
such  a  moment  for  the  grace  that  enabled  one  to  choose 
the  right !     With  what  awe  one  looks  into  the  gulf  on 
whose  edge  one  stood,  and  thanks  God  for  the  grace 
that    brought   the    victory  I     And    how    often    is    the 
welfare  of  a  lifetime  secured  in  some  crisis  by  the  firm 
attitude  of  an  hour.     What  do  we  not  gain  by  patience 
when  we  do  the  right  and  wait  for  the  reward  ?     One 
of  the  pictures  in  the  Interpreter's  House  is  that  of  ^'  a 
little   room  where   sat  two  little  children,  each  in  his 
chair.     The  name  of  the  eldest  was  Passion,  and  of  the 
other  Patience.     Passion  seemed  much  discontent,  but 
Patience  was  very  quiet.     Then  asked  Christian,  What 
is  the  reason  of  the  discontent  of  Passion  ?     The  Inter- 
preter answered.  The  Governor  of  them  would  have  them 
stay  for  his  best  things  till  the  beginning  of  the  next 
year ;  but  he  will  have  them  all  now ;  but  Patience  is 
willing  to  wait."     How  invaluable  is  the  spirit  that  can 
wait  till  the  beginning  of  the  next  year  I     And  especially 
with  reference  to  the   awards   of  eternity.     The   rush 


vi.  17, 22-25-]  RAHAB  SAVED.  157 


for  good  things  now,  the  desire  at  all  hazards  to  gratify 
inclination  as  it  rises,  the  impatience  that  will  not  wait 
till  next  year — how  many  lives  they  wreck,  what  misery 
they  gender  for  eternity  1  But  when  you  do  choose 
that  good  part  that  shall  not  be  taken  away,  and  count 
all  things  but  loss  for  the  excellency  of  the  knowledge 
of  Christ  Jesus,  what  ecstatic  bliss  you  make  sure  of  in 
that  solemn  hour  when  the  dead,  small  and  great,  shall 
stand  before  God ;  and,  amid  weeping  and  wailing 
inexpressible  on  the  left  hand,  the  Judge  shall  pronounce 
the  words,  "  Come,  ye  blessed  of  My  Father,  inherit  the 
kingdom  prepared  for  you  from  the  foundation  of  the 
world." 

The  case  of  Rahab  was  one  of  thoee  where  whole 
famihes  were  saved  on  account  of  the  faith  of  one 
member.  Such  was  the  case  of  Noah,  whose  faith 
secured  the  exemption  of  himself  and  all  his  family 
from  the  flood.  Such,  h3'potheticall3^,  was  the  case  of 
Lot,  whose  whole  family  would  have  been  preserved 
from  the  fire  and  brimstone,  if  only  they  had  received  his 
warning  and  left  Sodom  with  him.  On  the  other  hand, 
there  were  cases,  like  that  of  Korah  in  the  wilderness, 
and  of  Achan,  near  this  very  place,  Jericho,  where  the 
sin  of  the  father  involved  the  death  of  the  whole  family. 
In  the  case  of  Rahab,  we  find  a  family  saved,  not 
thiT)Ugh  the  faith  of  the  head  of  the  house,  but  of  a 
member  of  it,  and  that  member  a  woman.  The  head 
of  a  Hebrew  house  was  eminently  a  representative  man, 
and  by  a  well-understood  and  recognised  law  his  family 
were  implicated  in  his  acts,  whether  for  good  or  for  evil. 
But  in  this  case  the  protector  of  the  family,  the  member 
of  it  that  determines  the  fate  of  the  whole,  is  not  the 
one  whom  the  law  recognises,  but  his  child,  his  daughter. 
A  woman  occupies  here  a  higher  and  more  influential 


IS8  THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 


place,  in  relation  to  the  rest  of  the  family,  than  she  has 
ever  held  at  any  previous  time.  The  incident  comes  in 
as  a  kind  of  foreshadow  of  what  was  to  be  abundantly 
verified  in  after  times.  For  it  is  in  Christian  times  that 
woman  has  most  conspicuously  attained  that  position 
of  high  influence  on  the  welfare  of  the  family,  and 
especially  its  eternal  welfare,  which  Rahab  showed  in 
delivering  her  house  from  the  destruction  of  Jericho. 

At  a  very  early  period  in  the  history  of  the  Christian 
Church,  the  great  influence  of  godly  women  on  the 
welfare  of  their  male  relations  began  to  be  seen.  About 
the  fourth  century  we  can  hardly  peruse  the  biography 
of  any  eminent  Christian  father,  without  being  struck 
with  the  share  which  the  prayers  and  efforts  of  some 
pious  female  relative  had  in  his  conversion.  Monica, 
the  mother  of  Augustine,  is  held  in  reverence  all  over 
Christendom  for  her  tears  and  wrestling  prayers  on 
behalf  of  her  son  ;  and  the  name  of  Anthusa,  the  mother 
of  Chrysostom,  is  hardly  less  venerable.  Nonna,  the 
mother  of  Gregory  Nazianzen  ;  Macrina  and  Emmelia, 
the  mother  and  the  grandmother  of  Basil  the  Great  and 
Gregory  of  Nyssa,  as  well  as  their  sister,  also  called 
Macrina ;  Theosebia  too,  the  wife  of  Gregory,  and 
Marallina,  the  sister  of  Ambrose,  all  share  a  similar 
renovv^n.  And  in  more  recent  times,  how  many  are 
the  cases  where  sisters  and  daughters  have  exercised 
a  blessed  influence  on  brothers  and  fathers  !  Every 
right-hearted  sister  has  a  peculiarly  warm  and  tender 
interest  in  the  welfare  of  her  brothers.  It  is  a  feeling 
not  to  be  neglected,  but  carefully  nursed  and  deepened. 
This  narrative  shows  it  to  be  in  the  line  of  God's 
providence  that  sisters  and  daughters  shall  prove 
instruments  of  deliverance  to  their  relations.  It  is 
blessed  when  they  are  so  even  in  earthly  things,  but 


vi.  17, 22-25-]  RAHAB  SAVED.  159 

far  more  glorious  when,  through  faith  and  prayer  and 
unwearied  interest,  they  are  enabled  to  win  them  to 
Christ,  and  turn  them  into  living  epistles  for  Him. 

It  can   hardly  be   necessary  to   dwell   at  length  on 
the  commentary  which  we  find  in  the  Epistle  of  James 
on  the  faith  of  Rahab.      For  it  is  not  so  much  anything 
personal    to    her   that    he    handles,    but    an    important 
quality  of  all  true  faith,  and  of  her  faith  as  being  true. 
'^  Was  not  Rahab  the  harlot  justified  by  works  when 
she  had  received  the  messengers,  and  had  sent  them 
out  another  way  ?  "      No  intelligent  person  needs  to 
be  told  that  the  view  of  justification  here  given  is  in 
no   wise    at  variance   with   that   of  St.    Paul.       Paul's 
doctrine   was   propounded   in    the   early  years    of  the 
Church,   when,   in  opposition  to  the   notion  prevalent 
among  the  Gentiles,  it  was  necessary  to  show  clearly 
that    there   was    no  justifying   merit    in    works.      The 
doctrine  of  James  was  propounded  at  a  later  period, 
when  men,  presuming  on  free  grace,  were  beginning  to 
get  lax  in  their  practice,  and  it  was  necessary  to  insist 
that  faith  could  not  be  true  faith  if  it  was  not  accom- 
panied by  corresponding  works.     The  case  of  Rahab 
is   emplo3'ed    by   St.    James    to   illustrate    this   latter 
position.     If  Rahab  had  merely  professed  belief  in  the 
God  of  Israel  as  the  only  true  God,  and  in  the  certainty 
that  Israel  would  possess  the  land,  according  to  God's 
promise,  her  faith  would  have  been  a  barren  or  dead 
faith  ;  in  other  words,  it  would  have  been  no  true  faith 
at  all.     It  was  her  taking  up  the  cause  of  i-he  spies, 
protecting  them,   endangering  her   life   for  them,   and 
then  devising  and  executing  a  scheme  for  their  safety, 
that  showed  her  faith  to  be  living,  and  therefore  real. 
Let  it  be  true  that  faith  is  only  the  instrument  of  justifi- 
cation, that  it  possesses  no  merit,  and  that  its  value 


i6o  THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 


lies  solely  in  its  uniting  us  to  Christ,  so  that  we  get 
justification  and  all  other  blessings  from  Him  ;  still 
that  which  really  unites  us  to  Christ  must  be  living. 
Dr.  Chalmers  used  to  sum  up  the  whole  doctrine  in  the 
formula,  *'  We  are  justified  by  faith  alone,  but  not  by 
a  faith  which  is  alone." 

But  let   us  now  advert   to   the   reception  of  Rahab 
into  the  nation  and  church  of  the  Israelites.     **  They 
brought  out  all  her  kindred,  and  left  them  without  the 
camp    of  Israel.   ,   .  .   And  Joshua    saved    Rahab    the 
harlot  alive,  and  her  father's  household,  and  all   that 
she   had  ;   and   she   dwelleth   in  Israel  even  unto  this 
day ;   because   she   hid  the  messengers  which  Joshua 
sent  to  spy  out  Jericho."     First,  they  left  them  without 
the    camp.      At  first   they   could    be    treated    only   as 
unclean  until  the  rites  of  purification   should   be  per- 
formed.    In  the  case  of  Rahab  this  was  doubly  neces- 
sary— owing  to  her  race,  and  owing  to  her  life.     There- 
after they  were  admitted  to  the  commonwealth  of  Israel, 
and  had  an  interest  in  the  covenants  of  promise.     The 
ceremonial  purification  and  the  formal  admission  signi- 
fied little,    except  in    so   far  as   they  represented   the 
washing  of  regeneration  and  the  renewal  of  the  Holy 
Ghost.     Whether  this  vital  change  took  place  we  are 
not  told,  but  we  seem  justified  in  inferring  it  both  from 
v/hat  we  read  in  Hebrews  and  from  the  fact  that  Rahab 
was  one  of  the  ancestors  of  our  Lord.     It  is  interesting 
and  instructive  to  think   of  her  as  exemplifying  that 
law  of  grace  by  which  the  door  of  heaven  is  flung  open 
even    to    the   vilest   sinner.      "  Where    sin   abounded 
grace  did    much   more    abound."      When    the   enemy 
ensnares  a  woman,  wiles  her  into  the  filthiest  chambers 
of  sin,  and  so  enchains  her  there  that  she  cannot  escape, 
but  must  sink  deeper  and  deeper  in  the  mire,  the  case 


vi.  17, 22-25.]  RAHAB  SAVED,  i6i 


is  truly  hopeless.  More  rapidly  and  more  thoroughly 
than  in  the  case  of  a  man,  the  leprosy  spreads  till  every 
virtuous  principle  is  rooted  out,  and  every  womanly 
feeling  is  displaced  by  the  passions  of  a  sensual 
reprobate.  *^  Son  of  man,  can  these  bones  live  ?  "  Is 
there  any  art  to  breathe  the  breath  of  purity  and  pure 
love  into  that  defiled  soul?  Can  such  a  woman  ever  find 
her  home  on  the  mountains  of  spices,  and  hear  a  loving 
bridegroom  say,  '^  My  love,  my  undefiled  is  but  one  "  ? 
It  is  just  here  that  the  religion  of  the  Bible  achieves 
its  highest  triumphs.  We  say  the  religion  of  the  Bible, 
but  we  should  rather  say,  that  gracious  Being  whose 
grace  the  Bible  unfolds.  ''  The  things  that  are  impossible 
with  men  are  possible  with  God."  Jesus  Christ  is  the 
prince  of  life.  Experience  of  His  saving  grace,  living 
fellowship  with  Him,  can  so  change  ''  fornicators  and 
idolaters,  and  adulterers  and  effeminate  and  abusers 
of  themselves  with  mankind,  and  thieves  and  covetous 
and  drunkards  and  revilers  and  extortioners,"  that  it 
may  be  said  of  them,  ''  But  ye  are  washed,  but  ye  are 
sanctified,  but  ye  are  justified  in  the  name  of  the  Lord 
Jesus,  and  by  the  Spirit  of  our  God."  Living  faith  in 
a  living  and  loving  Saviour  can  do  all  things. 

Ten  thousand  times  has  this  truth  been  illustrated  in 
evangelistic  addresses,  in  sermons,  and  in  tracts  in- 
numerable from  the  case  of  the  prodigal  son.  And  what 
imagination  can  estimate  the  good  which  that  parable 
has  done  ?  In  this  point  of  view  it  is  strange  that  little 
use  has  been  made  of  an  Old  Testament  passage,  in 
which  the  same  truth  is  unfolded  with  touching  beauty 
from  the  case  of  a  faithless  woman.  We  refer  to  the 
second  chapter  of  Hosea.  It  is  the  case  of  a  guilty 
and  apparently  shameless  wife.  Impelled  by  greed, 
meanest  of  all  motives,   she  has  gone  after  this  lover 

II 


1 62  THE  BOOK   OF  JOSHUA. 

and  that,  because  they  seemed  able  to  gratify  her 
love  of  finery  and  luxury,  and  all  the  vain  show  of  the 
world.  But  the  time  comes  when  her  eyes  are  opened, 
her  lovers  are  brought  to  desolation,  she  sees  that  they 
have  all  been  a  lie  and  a  deception,  and  that  no  real 
good  has  ever  come  to  her  save  from  the  husband 
whom  she  has  forsaken  and  insulted.  And  now  when 
she  turns  to  him  she  is  simply  overwhelmed  by  his 
graciousness  and  generosity.  He  does  all  that  can  be 
done  to  make  her  forget  her  past  miseries,  all  her  past 
hfe,  and  he  succeeds.  The  valley  of  Achor  becomes  a 
door  of  hope  ;  she  is  so  transformed  inwardly,  and  her 
outward  surroundings  are  so  changed,  that  ''  she  sings 
as  in  the  days  of  her  youth."  The  happy  feelings  of 
her  unpolluted  childhood  return  to  her,  as  if  she  had 
drunk  the  waters  of  Lethe,  and  she  sings  like  a  light- 
hearted  girl  once  more.  The  allegory  is  hardly  an 
allegory, — it  is  Divine  love  that  has  effected  the  change  ; 
that  love  that  many  waters  cannot  quench  and  floods 
cannot  drown. 

We  wonder  whether  Rahab  obtained  much  help  in 
her  new  life  from  the  fellowship  of  those  among  whom 
she  came  when  she  joined  the  Church.  If  the  Church 
then  was  what  the  Church  ever  ought  to  b^,  if  its  out- 
standing members  were  like  the  three  fair  damsels. 
Prudence,  Piety  and  Charity,  in  the  Palace  Beautiful, 
no  doubt  she  would  be  helped  greatly.  But  it  is  not 
very  often  that  that  emblem  is  realized.  And  strange 
to  say,  among  the  members  of  our  Churches  now,  we 
usually  find  a  very  imperfect  sense  of  the  duty  which 
they  owe  to  those  who  come  among  them  from  without, 
and  especially  out  of  great  wickedness.  It  is  quite 
possible  that  Rahab  was  chilled  by  the  coldness  of 
some   of  her   Hebrew  sisters,   looking  on    her   as    an 


vi.  17,22-25.]  RAHAB  SAVED.  163 


intruder,  looking  on  her  as  a  reprobate,  and  grieved 
because  their  select  society  was  broken  in  upon  by 
this  outlandish  woman.  And  it  is  quite  possible  that 
she  was  disappointed  to  find  that,  though  they  were 
nominally  the  people  of  God,  there  was  very  little  of 
what  was  divine  or  heavenly  about  them.  So  it  often 
happens  that  what  ought  to  be  the  greatest  attraction 
in  a  Church,  the  character  of  its  members,  is  the 
greatest  repellant.  If  all  sin-worn  and  world- worn 
souls,  weary  of  the  world's  ways,  and  longing  for  a 
society  more  loving,  more  generous,  more  pure,  more 
noble,  could  find  in  the  Christian  Church  their  ideal 
fulfilled,  could  find  in  the  fellowship  of  Christians 
the  reality  of  their  dreams,  how  blessed  would  be  the 
result !  Alas,  in  too  many  cases  they  find  the  world's 
bitterness  and  meanness  and  selfishness  reproduced 
under  the  flag  of  Christ  !  If  all  so-called  Christians,  it 
has  been  said,  should  live  for  but  one  year  in  accord- 
ance with  the  thirteenth  chapter  of  ist  Corinthians, 
unbelief  would  vanish.  Will  the  day  ever  be  when 
every  one  that  nam.es  the  name  of  Christ  shall  be  a 
living  epistle,   known  and  read  of  all  men  ? 

But,  however  she  may  have  been  affected  by  the 
spirit  of  those  among  whom  she  came,  Rahab  un- 
doubtedly attained  to  a  good  degree  before  God,  and 
a  place  of  high  honour  in  the  Hebrew  community.  It 
was  well  for  her  that  what  at  first  arrested  and  im- 
pressed her  was  not  anything  in  the  people  of  Israel ; 
it  was  the  glorious  attributes  of  their  God.  For  this 
would  preserve  her  substantially  from  disappointment. 
Men  might  change,  or  they  might  pass  away,  but  God 
remained  the  same  yesterday  and  to-day  and  for  ever. 
If  she  kept  looking  to  Him,  admiring  His  grace  and 
power,  and    drawing  from    His    inexhaustible  fulness, 


1 64  THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 


she  would  be  able  to  verify  one  at  least  of  the  prophet's 
pictures  :  ''  Cursed  be  the  man  that  trusteth  in  man, 
and  maketh  flesh  his  arm,  and  whose  heart  departeth 
from  the  Lord  :  for  he  shall  be  like  the  heath  in  the 
desert,  and  shall  not  see  when  good  cometh ;  but  shall 
inhabit  the  parched  places  in  the  wilderness,  in  a  salt 
land  and  not  inhabited.  Blessed  is  the  man  that 
trusteth  in  the  Lord,  and  whose  hope  the  Lord  is  :  for 
he  shall  be  as  a  tree  planted  by  the  waters,  and  that 
spreadeth  out  her  roots  by  the  river,  and  shall  not  see 
when  heat  cometh,  but  her  leaf  shall  be  green ;  and 
shall  not  be  careful  in  the  year  of  drought,  neither 
shall  cease  from  yielding  fruit." 


I 


.1 
I 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

A  CHAN'S   TRESPASS. 
Joshua  vii. 

A  VESSEL  in  full  sail  scuds  merrily  over  the  waves. 
Everything  betokens  a  successful  and  delightful 
voyage.  The  log  has  just  been  taken,  marking  an  ex- 
traordinary run.  The  passengers  are  in  the  highest 
spirits,  anticipating  an  early  close  of  the  voyage. 
Suddenly  a  shock  is  felt,  and  terror  is  seen  on  every 
face.  The  ship  has  struck  on  a  rock.  Not  only  is 
progress  arrested,  but  it  will  be  a  mercy  for  crew  and 
passengers  if  they  can  escape  with  their  lives. 

Not  often  so  violently,  but  often  as  really,  progress 
is  an^ested  in  many  a  good  enterprise  that  seemed  to 
be  prospering  to  a  wish.  There  may  be  no  shock,  but 
there  is  a  stoppage  of  movement.  The  vital  force  that 
seemed  to  be  carrying  it  on  towards  the  desired 
consummation  declines,  and  the  work  hangs  fire.  A 
mission  that  in  its  first  stages  was  working  out  a 
beautiful  transformation,  becomes  languid  and  advances 
no  further.  A  Church,  eminent  for  its  zeal  and  spiritual- 
ity, comes  down  to  the  ordinary  level,  and  seems  to 
lose  its  power.  A  family  that  promised  well  in  infancy 
and  childhood  fails  of  its  promise,  its  sons  and  daughters 
waver  and  fall.  A  similar  result  is  often  found  in  the 
undertakings   of  common  life.     Something  mysterious 


1 66  THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 

arrests  progress  in  business  or  causes  a  decline.  In 
'^enterprises  of  great  pith  and  moment,"  *' the  currents 
turn  awry,  and  lose  the  name  of  action." 

In  all  such  cases  we  naturally  wonder  what  can  be 
the  cause.  And  very  often  our  explanation  is  wide  of 
the  mark.  In  religious  enterprises,  we  are  apt  to  fall 
back  on  the  sovereignty  and  inscrutability  of  God. 
"  He  moves  in  a  mysterious  way,  His  wonders  to 
perform."  It  seems  good  to  Him,  for  unknown  purposes 
of  His  own,  to  subject  us  to  disappointment  and  trial. 
We  do  not  impugn  either  His  wisdom  or  His  goodness  ; 
all  is  for  the  best.  But,  for  the  most  part,  we  fail  to 
detect  the  real  reason.  That  the  fault  should  lie  with 
ourselves  is  the  last  thing  we  think  of.  We  search 
for  it  in  every  direction  rather  than  at  home.  We  are 
ingenious  in  devising  far-off  theories  and  explanations, 
while  the  real  offender  is  close  at  hand — ^^  Israel  hath 
sinned.''^ 

It  was  an  unexpected  obstacle  of  this  kind  that 
Joshua  now  encountered  in  his  next  step  towards 
possessing  the  land.  Let  us  endeavour  to  understand 
his  position  and  his  plan.  Jericho  lay  in  the  valley 
of  the  Jordan,  and  its  destruction  secured  nothing  for 
Joshua  save  the  possession  of  that  low-lying  valley. 
From  the  west  side  of  the  valley  rose  a  high  mountain 
wall,  which  had  to  be  ascended  in  order  to  reach  the 
plateau  of  Western  Palestine.  Various  ravines  or  passes 
ran  down  from  the  plateau  into  the  valley  ;  at  the  top 
of  one  of  these,  a  little  to  the  north  of  Jericho,  was 
Bethel,  and  farther  down  the  pass,  nearer  the  plain,  the 
town  or  village  of  Ai.  No  remains  of  Ai  are  now  visible, 
nor  is  there  any  tradition  of  the  name,  so  that  its  exact 
position  cannot  be  ascertained.  It  was  an  insignificant 
place,    but    necessary  to    be    taken,   in    order    to   give 


vii.]  ACHAN'S   TRESPASS.  167 


Joshua  command  of  the  pass,  and  enable  him  to  reach 
the  plateau  above.     The  plan  of  Joshua  seems  to  have 
been  to  gain  command  of  the  plateau  about  this  point, 
and  thereby,  as  it  were,  cut  the  country  in  two,  so  that 
he  might  be  able  to  deal  in  succession  with  its  southern 
and  its  northern  sections.     If  once  he  could  establish 
himself  in  the  very  centre  of  the  country,  keeping  his 
communications  open  with  the  Jordan  valley,  he  would 
be  able  to  deal  with  his  opponents  in  detail,  and  thus 
prevent  those  in  the  one  section  from  coming  to  the 
assistance  of  the  other.      Neither  Ai  nor  Bethel  seemed 
likely  to  give  him  trouble  ;  they  were  but  insignificant 
places,  and  a  very  small   force  would  be  sufficient  to 
deal  Vv'ith  them. 

Hitherto  Joshua  had  been  eminently  successful,  and 
his  people  too.     Not  a  hitch  had   occurred  in  all   the 
arrangements.     The    capture   of  Jericho   had   been   an 
unqualified  trium.ph.     It  seemed  as  if  the  people  of  Ai 
could   hardly  fail   to   be  paralysed   by  its   fate.     After 
reconnoitring  Ai,  Joshua  saw  that  there  was  no  need 
for  mustering  the  whole  host  against  so  poor  a  place — 
a    detachment    of    two    or    three    thousand    would    be 
enough.     The   three   thousand  went   up   against   it  as 
confidently  as  if  success  were  already  in  their  hands.    It 
was  probably  a  surprise  to  find  its  people  making  any 
attempt  to  drive  them  off     The  men  of  Israel  v/ere  not 
prepared  for  a  vigorous  onslaught,  and  when  it  came 
thus  unexpectedly  they  were  taken  aback  and  fled  in 
confusion.     As  the  men  of  Ai  pursued  them  down  the 
pass,  they  had  no  power  to  rally  or  retrieve  the  battle  ; 
the  rout  was  complete,  some  of  the  men  were  killed, 
while  consternation  was  carried  into  the  host,  and  their 
whole  enterprise  seemed  doomed  to  failure. 

And  now  for  the  first  time  Joshua  appears  in  a  some- 


1 68  THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 

what  humiliating  light.  He  is  not  one  of  the  men  that 
never  make  a  blunder.  He  rends  his  clothes,  falls  on 
his  face  with  the  elders  before  the  ark  of  the  Lord  till 
even,  and  puts  dust  upon  his  head.  There  is  some- 
thing too  abject  in  this  prostration.  And  when  he 
speaks  to  God,  it  is  in  the  tone  of  complaint  and  in  the 
language  of  unbelief.  ''  Alas,  O  Lord  God,  wherefore 
hast  Thou  at  all  brought  this  people  over  Jordan,  to 
deliver  us  into  the  hand  of  the  Amorites,  to  destroy  us  ? 
would  to  God  we  had  been  content,  and  dwelt  on  the 
other  side  Jordan  !  O  Lord,  what  shall  I  say,  when 
Israel  turneth  their  backs  before  their  enemies  !  For 
the  Canaanites  and  all  the  inhabitants  of  the  land  shall 
hear  of  it,  and  shall  environ  us  round,  and  cut  off  our 
name  from  the  earth  :  and  what  wilt  Thou  do  unto  Thy 
great  name  ?  "  Thus  Joshua  almost  throws  the  blame 
on  God.  He  seems  to  have  no  idea  that  it  may  lie  in 
quite  another  quarter.  And  very  strangely,  he  adopts 
the  vei-y  tone  and  almost  the  language  of  the  ten  spies, 
against  which  he  had  protested  so  vehemently  at  the 
time  :  **  Would  God  that  we  had  died  in  the  land  of 
Egypt,  or  would  God  we  had  died  in  this  wilderness  ! 
And  wherefore  hath  the  Lord  brought  us  unto  this  land, 
to  fall  by  the  sword,  that  our  wives  and  our  children 
should  be  a  prey  ?  "  What  has  become  of  all  your 
courage,  Joshua,  on  that  memorable  day  ?  Is  this  the 
man  to  whom  God  said  so  lately,  '^  Be  strong,  and  of 
good  courage  ;  as  I  was  with  Moses,  so  I  will  be  with 
thee.  I  will  not  fail  thee  nor  forsake  thee "  ?  Like 
Peter  on  the  waters,  and  like  so  many  of  ourselves,  he 
begins  to  sink  when  the  wind  is  contrary,  and  his  cry 
is  the  querulous  wail  of  a  frightened  child  !  After  all 
he  is  but  flesh  and  blood.  - — - 

Now  it   is    God's    turn    to   speak.     "  Get   thee    up ; 


vii.]  ACHAN'S   TRESPASS.  169 

wherefore  liest  thou  thus  upon  thy  face  ?  "  Why  do 
you  turn  on  Me  as  if  I  had  suddenly  changed,  and 
become  forgetful  of  My  promise  ?  Alas,  my  friends,  how 
often  is  God  slandered  by  our  complaints  !  How  often 
do  we  feel  and  even  speak  as  if  He  had  broken  His 
word  and  forgotten  His  promise,  as  if  He  had  induced 
us  to  trust  in  Him,  and  accept  His  service,  only  to 
humiliate  us  before  the  world,  and  forsake  us  in  some 
great  crisis  !  No  wonder  if  God  speak  sharply  to 
Joshua,  and  to  us  if  we  go  in  Joshua's  steps.  No  wonder 
if  He  refuse  to  be  pleased  with  our  prostration,  our 
wringing  of  our  hands  and  sobbing,  and  calls  us  to 
change  our  attitude.  ''  Get  thee  up ;  wherefore  liest 
thou  thus  upon  thy  face  ?  " 

Then  comes  the  true  explanation — "  Israel  hath 
sinned."  Might  you  not  have  divined  that  this  was 
the  real  cause  of  3'our  trouble  ?  Is  not  sin  directly  or 
indirectly  the  cause  of  all  trouble  ?  What  was  it  that 
broke  up  the  joy  and  peace  of  Paradise  ?  Sin.  What 
brought  the  flood  of  waters  over  the  face  of  the  earth  to 
destroy  it  ?  Sin.  What  caused  the  confusion  of  Babel 
and  scattered  the  inhabitants  over  the  earth  in  hostile 
races  ?  Sin.  What  brought  desolation  on  that  very 
plain  of  Jordaji,  and  buried  its  cities  and  its  people 
under  an  avalanche  of  fire  and  brimstone  ?  Sin.  What 
caused  the  defeat  of  Israel  at  Hormah  forty  years  ago, 
and  doomed  all  the  generation  to  perish  in  the  wilder- 
ness ?  Sin.  What  threw  down  the  walls  of  Jericho 
only  a  few  days  ago,  gave  its  people  to  the  sword 
of  Israel,  and  reduced  its  homes  and  its  bulwarks  to 
the  mass  of  ruins  you  see  there?  Again,  sin.  Can  you 
not  read  the  plainest  lesson  ?  Can  you  not  divine  that 
this  trouble  which  has  come  on  you  is  due  to  the  same 
cause  with  all  the  rest  ?     And  if  it  be  a  first  principle 


lyo  THE  BOOK  OF  JObHUA. 


of  Providence  that  all  trouble  is  due  to  sin,  would  it  not 
be  more  suitable  that  you  and  your  elders  should  now 
be  making  diligent  search  for  it,  and  trying  to  get  it 
removed,  than  that  you  should  be  lying  on  your  faces 
and  howling  to  me,  as  if  some  sudden  caprice  or 
unworthy  humour  of  mine  had  brought  this  distress 
upon  you  ? 

''  Behold,  the  Lord's  ear  is  not  heavy  that  it  cannot 

hear,  nor  His  arm  shortened  that  it  cannot  save.     But 

your  iniquities  have  separated  between  you  and  your 

God."     What  a  curse  that  sin  is,  in  ways  and  forms, 

too,  which  we  do  not  suspect !     And  yet  we  are  usually 

so  very  careless  about  it.     How  little  pains  w^e  take  to 

ascertain  its  presence,  or  to  drive  it  away  from  among 

us  !    How  little  tenderness  of  conscience  we  show,  how 

little  burning  desire  to  be  kept  from  the  accursed  thing  I 

And  when  we  turn  to  our  opponents  and  see  sin  in 

them,  instead  of  being  grieved,  we  fall  on  them  savagely 

to  upbraid  them,  and  we  hold  them  up  to  open  scorn. 

How  little  we  think  if  they  are  guilty,  that  their  sin  has 

intercepted  the  favour  of  God,  and  involved  not  them 

only,  but  probably  the  whole    community  in  trouble  ! 

How  unsatisfactory  to  God  must  seem  the  bearing  even 

of  the  best  of  us  in  reference  to  sin  !     Do  we  really 

think  of  it  as  the  object  of  God's  abhorrence  ?     As  that 

which  destroyed  Paradise,   as  that  which  has  covered 

the   earth   with  lamentation    and    mourning   and   v/oe, 

kindled  the  flames  of  hell,  and  brought  the  Son  of  God 

to  suffer  on  the  cross  ?     If  only  we  had  some  adequate 

sense  of  sin,  should  we  not  be  constantly  making  it  our 

prayer — ''  Search  me,  O  God,  and  know  my  heart ;  try 

me,   and  know  my  thoughts ;  and  see  if  there  be  any 

wicked  way  in  me,  and  lead  me  in  the  way  everlasting  "  ? 

The  peculiar  covenant  relation  in  which  Israel  stood 


vii.]  ACHAN'S   TRESPASS.  171 


to  God  caused  a  method  to  be  fallen  on  for  detecting 
their  sin  that  is  not  available  for  us.  The  whole  people 
were  to  be  assembled  next  morning,  and  inquiry  was 
to  be  made  for  the  delinquent  in  God's  way,  and  when 
the  individual  was  found  condign  punishment  was  to 
be  inflicted.  First  the  tribe  was  to  be  ascertained, 
then  the  family,  then  the  man.  For  this  is  God's  way 
of  tracking  sin.  It  might  be  more  pleasant  to  us  that 
He  should  deal  with  it  more  generally,  and  having 
ascertained,  for  example,  that  the  wrong  had  been  done 
by  a  particular  tribe  or  communit}^,  inflict  a  fine  or  other 
penalt}^  on  that  tribe  in  which  we  should  willingly  bear 
our  share.  For  it  does  not  grieve  us  very  much  to 
sin  when  every  one  sins  along  with  us.  Nay,  we  can 
even  make  merry  over  the  fact  that  we  are  all  sinners 
together,  all  in  the  same  condemnation,  in  the  same 
disgrace.  But  it  is  a  different  thing  when  we  are  dealt 
with  one  by  one.  The  tribe  is  taken,  the  family  is 
taken,  but  that  is  not  all ;  the  household  that  God 
shall  take  shall  come  man  by  man  !  It  is  that  indi- 
vidualizing of  us  that  we  dread  ;  it  is  when  it  comes 
to  that,  that  *'  conscience  makes  cowards  of  us  all." 
When  a  sinner  is  dying,  he  becomes  aware  that  this 
individualizing  process  is  about  to  take  place,  and  hence 
the  fear  which  he  often  feels.  He  is  no  longer  among 
the  multitude,  death  is  putting  him  by  himself,  and  God 
is  coming  to  deal  with  him  by  himself  If  he  could 
only  be  hid  in  the  crowd  it  would  not  matter,  but  that 
searching  eye  of  God — who  can  stand  before  it  ?  What 
will  all  the  excuses  or  disguises  or  glosses  he  can  devise 
avail  before  Him  who  '*  sets  our  iniquities  before  Him, 
our  secret  sins  in  the  light  of  His  countenance "  ? 
''  Neither  is  there  any  creature  that  is  not  manifest  in 
His  sight ;  for  all  things  are  naked,  and  opened  unto 


172  THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 

the  eyes  of  Him  with  whom  we  have  to  do."  Happy, 
in  that  hour,  they  who  have  found  the  Divine  covering 
for  sin  :  ''  Blessed  is  he  whose  transgression  is  forgiven, 
whose  sin  is  covered.  Blessed  is  the  man  to  whom  the 
Lord  imputeth  not  iniquity,  and  in  whose  spirit  there 
is  no  guile." 

But  before  passing  on  to  the  result  of  the  scrutiny, 
we  find  ourselves  face  to  face  with  a  difficult  question. 
If,  as  is  here  intimated,  it  was  one  man  that  sinned, 
why  should  the  whole  nation  have  been  dealt  with  as 
guilty  ?  Why  should  the  historian,  in  the  very  first 
verse  of  this  chapter,  summarise  the  transaction  by 
saying  :  **  But  the  children  of  Israel  committed  a  trespass 
in  the  devoted  thing  :  for  Achan,  the  son  of  Carmi,  the 
son  of  Zabdi,  the  son  of  Zevsihy  of  the  tribe  of  Judah, 
took  of  the  devoted  thing ;  and  the  anger  of  the  Lord 
was  kindled  against  the  children  of  Israel "  ?  Why 
visit  the  offence  of  Achan  on  the  whole  congregation, 
causing  a  peculiarly  humiliating  defeat  to  take  place 
before  an  insignificant  enemy,  demoralizing  the  whole 
host,  driving  Joshua  to  distraction,  and  causing  the 
death  of  six-and-thirty  men  ? 

In  dealing  with  a  question  of  this  sort,  it  is  indis- 
pensable that  we  station  ourselves  at  that  period  of  the 
world's  history  ;  we  must  place  before  our  minds  some 
of  the  ideas  that  were  prevalent  at  the  time,  and 
abstain  from  judging  of  what  was  done  then  by  a 
standard  which  is  applicable  only  to  our  own  day. 

And  certain  it  is  that,  what  we  now  call  the  solidarity  of 
mankind,  the  tendency  to  look  on  men  rather  as  the  mem- 
bers of  a  community  than  as  independent  individuals, 
each  with  an  inalienable  standing  of  his  own,  had  a  hold 
of  men's  minds  then  such  as  it  has  not  to-day,  certainly 
among   Western    nations.     To  a   certain    extent,    this 


vii.]  ACHAN'S   TRESPASS.  173 


principle  of  solidarity  is  inwoven  in  the  very  nature 
of  things,  and  cannot  be  eliminated,  however  we  may 
tr}^  Absolute  independence  and  isolation  of  individuals 
are  impossible.  In  families,  we  suffer  for  one  another's 
faults,  even  when  we  hold  them  in  abhorrence.  We 
benefit  by  one  another's  virtues,  though  we  may  have 
done  our  utmost  to  discourage  and  destroy  them.  In 
the  Divine  procedure  toward  us,  the  principle  of  our 
being  a  corporate  body  is  often  acted  upon.  The 
covenant  of  Adam  was  founded  on  it,  and  the  fall  of 
our  first  parents  involved  the  fall  of  all  their  descen- 
dants. In  the  earlier  stages  of  the  Hebrew  economy, 
wide  scope  was  given  to  the  principle.  It  operated 
in  two  forms  :  sometimes  the  individual  suffered  for 
the  community,  and  sometimes  the  community  for  the 
individual.  And  the  operation  of  the  principle  was 
not  confined  to  the  Hebrew  or  to  other  Oriental  com- 
munities. Even  among  the  Romans  it  had  a  great 
influence.  Admirable  though  Roman  law  was  in  its 
regulation  of  property,  it  was  very  defective  in  its 
dealings  with  persons.  ''  Its  great  blot  was  the 
domestic  code.  The  son  was  the  property  of  the  father, 
without  rights,  without  substantial  being,  in  the  eye  of 
Roman  law.  .  .  .  The  wife  again  was  the  property  of 
her  husband,  an  ownership  of  which  the  moral  result 
was  most  disastrous."  ^ 

We  are  to  remember  that  practically  the  principle 
of  solidarity  was  fully  admitted  in  Joshua's  time 
among  his  people.  The  sense  of  injustice  and  hard- 
ship to  which  it  might  give  rise  among  us  did  not 
exist.  Men  recognised  it  as  a  law  of  wide  influence 
in   human  affairs,  to  which  they  were  bound  to  defer. 

'  See  Mozley's  "  Ruling  Ideas  in  the  Early  Ages,"  p.  40. 


174  THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 

Hence  it  was  that  when  it  became  known  that  one 
man's  offence  lay  at  the  foundation  of  the  defeat  be- 
fore Ai,  and  of  the  displeasure  of  God  toward  the 
people  at  large,  there  was  no  outcr}^,  no  remonstrance, 
no  complaint  of  injustice.  This  could  hardly  take  place 
if  the  same  thing  were  to  happen  now.  It  is  hard  to 
reconcile  the  transaction  with  our  sense  of  justice. 
And  no  doubt,  if  we  view  the  matter  apart  and  by 
itself,  there  may  be  some  ground  for  this  feeling.  But 
the  transaction  will  assume  another  aspect  if  we  view 
it  as  but  a  part  of  a  great  whole,  of  a  great  scheme  of 
instruction  and  discipline  which  God  was  developing 
in  connection  with  Israel.  In  this  light,  instead  of  a 
hardship  it  will  appear  that  in  the  end  a  very  great 
benefit  was  conferred  on  the  people. 

Let  us  think  of  Achan's  temptation.  A  large  amount 
of  valuable  property  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  Israelites 
at  Jericho.  By  a  rigorous  law,  all  was  devoted  to  the 
service  of  God.  Now  a  covetous  man  like  Achan  might 
find  many  plausible  reasons  for  evading  this  law. 
"What  I  take  to  myself  (he  might  say)  will  never  be 
missed.  There  are  hundreds  of  Babylonish  garments, 
there  are  many  wedges  of  gold,  and  silver  shekels 
without  number,  amply  sufficient  for  the  purpose  for 
which  they  are  devoted.  If  I  were  to  deprive  another 
man  of  his  rightful  share,  I  should  be  acting  very 
wickedly ;  but  I  am  really  doing  nothing  of  the  kind. 
I  am  only  diminishing  imperceptibly  what  is  to  be 
used  for  a  public  purpose.  Nobody  will  suffer  a  whit 
by  what  I  do, — it  cannot  be  very  wrong." 

Now  the  great  lesson  taught  very  solemnly  and 
impressively  to  the  whole  nation  was,  that  this  was 
just  awfully  wrong.  The  moral  benefit  which  the 
nation    ultimately  got   from    the    transaction  was,   that 


vii.]  ACHAN'S    TRESPASS.  175 


this  kind  of  sophistry,  this  flattering  unction  which  leads 
so  many  persons  ultimately  to  destruction,  was  exploded 
and  blown  to  shivers.  A  most  false  mode  of  measuring 
the  criminality  of  sin  was  stamped  with  deserved  repro- 
bation. Every  man  and  woman  in  the  nation  got  a 
solemn  warning  against  a  common  but  ruinous  tempta- 
tion. In  so  far  as  they  laid  to  heart  this  warning 
during  the  rest  of  the  campaign,  they  were  saved  from 
disastrous  evil,  and  thus,  in  the  long  run,  they  profited 
by  the  case  of  Achan. 

That  sin  is  to  be  held  sinful  only  when  it  hurts  your 
fellow-creatures,  and  especially  the  poor  among  your 
fellow-creatures,  is  a  very  common  impression,  but 
surely  it  is  a  delusion  of  the  devil.  That  it  has  such 
effects  may  be  a  gross  aggravation  of  the  wickedness, 
but  it  is  not  the  heart  and  core  of  it.  And  how  can  you 
know  that  it  will  not  hurt  others  ?  Not  hurt  your  fellow- 
countrymen,  Achan  ?  Why,  that  secret  sin  of  yours  has 
caused  the  death  of  thirty-six  men,  and  a  humiliating 
defeat  of  the  troops  before  Ai.  More  than  that,  it 
has  separated  between  the  nation  and  God.  Many 
say,  when  they  tell  a  lie,  it  was  not  a  malignant  lie,  it 
was  a  lie  told  to  screen  some  one,  not  to  expose  him, 
therefore  it  was  harmless.  But  you  cannot  trace  the 
consequences  of  that  lie,  any  more  than  Achan  could 
trace  the  consequences  of  his  theft,  otherwise  you  would 
not  dare  to  make  that  excuse.  Many  that  would  not 
steal  from  a  poor  man,  or  waste  a  poor  man's  substance, 
have  little  scruple  in  wasting  a  rich  man's  substance, 
or  in  peculating  from  Government  property.  Who  can 
measure  the  evil  that  flows  from  such  ways  of  trifling 
with  the  inexorable  law  of  right,  the  damage  done  to 
conscience,  and  the  guilt  contracted  before  God  ?  Is 
there  safety  for  man  or  woman  except  in  the  most  rigid 


176  THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 


regard  to  right  and  truth,  even  in  the  smallest  portions 
of  them  with  which  they  have  to  do  ?  Is  there  not 
something  utterly  fearful  in  the  propagating  power  of 
sin,  and  in  its  way  of  involving  others,  who  are  perfectly 
innocent,  in  its  awful  doom  ?  Happy  they  who  from 
their  earliest  years  have  had  a  salutary  dread  of  it,  and 
of  its  infinite  ramifications  of  misery  and  woe  ! 

How  well  fitted  for  us,  especially  when  we  are  exposed 
to  temptation,  is  that  prayer  of  the  psalmist  :  *'  Who 
can  understand  his  errors?  cleanse  Thou  me  from  secret 
faults.  Keep  back  Thy  servant  also  from  presumptuous 
sins  ;  let  them  not  have  dominion  over  me  :  then  shall 
I  be  perfect,  and  I  shall  be  clear  of  great  transgression." 


CHAPTER   XV. 

A  CHAN'S  P  UNISHMENT. 
Joshua  vii. 

^'  T)  E  sure  your  sin  will  find  you  out."  It  has  an 
J-J  awful  way  of  leaving  its  traces  behind  it,  and 
confronting  the  sinner  with  his  crime.  ''Though  he 
hide  himself  in  the  top  of  Carmel,  I  will  search  and 
take  him  out  thence  ;  and  though  he  be  hid  from  My 
sight  in  the  bottom  of  the  sea,  thence  will  I  command 
the  serpent,  and  he  shall  bite  him  "  (Amos  ix.  3).  ''  For 
God  shall  bring  every  work  into  judgment,  with  every 
secret  thing,  whether  it  be  good,  or  whether  it  be  evil  " 
(Eccles.  xii.  14). 

V/hen  Achan  heard  of  the  muster  that  was  to  take 
place  next  morning,  in  order  to  detect  the  offender, 
he  must  have  spent  a  miserable  night.  Between  the 
consciousness  of  guilt,  the  sense  of  the  mischief  he 
had  done,  the  dread  of  detection,  and  the  foreboding  of 
retribution,  his  nerves  were  too  much  shaken  to  admit  the 
possibility  of  sleep.  Weariedly  and  anxiously  he  must 
have  tossed  about  as  the  hours  slowly  revolved,  unable 
to  get  rid  of  his  miserable  thoughts,  which  would  ever 
keep  swimming  about  him  like  the  changing  forms  of  a 
kaleidoscope,  but  with  the  same  dark  vision  of  coming 
doom. 

At   length    the   day   dawns,    the   tribes   muster,    the 

177  12 


178  THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 

inquiry  begins.  It  is  by  the  sure,  solemn,  simple, 
process  of  the  lot  that  the  case  is  to  be  decided.  First 
the  lot  is  cast  for  the  tribes,  and  the  tribe  of  Judah  is 
taken.  That  must  have  given  the  first  pang  to  Achan. 
Then  the  tribe  is  divided  into  its  families,  and  the  family 
of  the  Zarhites  is  taken  ;  then  the  Zarhite  famity  is 
brought  out  man  by  man,  and  Zabdi,  the  father  of 
Achan,  is  taken.  May  we  not  conceive  the  heart  of 
Achan  giving  a  fresh  beat  as  each  time  the  casting  of 
the  lot  brought  the  charge  nearer  and  nearer  to  himself? 
The  coils  are  coming  closer  and  closer  about  him ;  and 
now  his  father's  family  is  brought  out,  man  by  man, 
and  Achan  is  taken.  He  is  quite  a  young  man,  for  his 
father  could  only  have  been  a  lad  when  he  left  Egypt. 
Look  at  him,  pale,  trembling,  stricken  with  shame  and 
horror,  unable  to  hide  himself,  feeling  it  would  be  such 
a  relief  if  the  earth  would  open  its  jaws  and  swallow 
him  up,  as  it  swallowed  Korah.  Look  at  his  poor  wife  ; 
look  at  his  father ;  look  at  his  children.  What  a  load 
of  misery  he  has  brought  on  himself  and  on  them  I 
Yes,   the  way  of  transgressors  is  hard. 

Joshua's  heart  is  overcome,  and  he  deals  gently  with 
the  young  man.  '*  My  son,  give,  I  pray  thee,  glory  to 
the  Lord  God  of  Israel,  and  make  confession  unto  Him; 
and  tell  me  now  what  thou  hast  done  ;  hide  it  not  from 
me."  There  was  infinite  kindness  in  that  word  ^'  my 
son."  It  reminds  us  of  that  other  Joshua,  the  Jesus  of 
the  New  Testament,  so  tender  to  sinners,  so  full  of  love 
even  for  those  who  had  been  steeped  in  guilt.  It  brings 
before  us  the  Great  High  Priest,  who  is  touched  with  the 
feeling  of  our  infirmities,  seeing  He  was  in  all  things 
tempted  like  as  we  are,  yet  without  sin.  A  harsh  word 
from  Joshua  might  have  set  Achan  in  a  defiant  attitude, 
and  drawn  from  him  a  denial  that  he  had  done  anything 


vii.J  ACHAN'S  PUNISHMENT.  179 


amiss.  How  often  do  we  see  this  !  A  child  or  a 
servant  has  done  wrong  ;  you  are  angry,  you  speak 
harshly,  you  get  a  flat  denial.  Or  if  the  thing  cannot 
be  denied,  you  get  only  a  sullen  acknowledgment, 
which  takes  away  all  possibility  of  good  arising  out  of 
the  occurrence,  and  embitters  the  relation  of  the  parties 
to  each  other. 

But  not  only  did  Joshua  speak  kindly  to  Achan,  he 
confronted  him  with  God,  and  called  on  him  to  think 
how  He  was  concerned  in  this  matter.  "  Give  glory 
to  the  Lord  God  of  Israel."  Vindicate  Him  from  the 
charge  which  I  and  others  have  virtually  been  bringing 
against  Him,  of  proving  forgetful  of  His  covenant. 
Clear  Him  of  all  blarne,  declare  His  glory,  declare  that 
He  is  unsullied  in  His  perfections,  and  show  that  He 
has  had  good  cause  to  leave  us  to  the  mercy  of  our 
enemies.  No  man  as  yet  knew  what  Achan  had  done. 
He  might  have  been  guilty  of  some  act  of  idolatry,  or 
of  some  unhallowed  sensuality  like  that  which  had 
lately  taken  place  at  Baal-peor ;  in  order  that  the 
transaction  might  carry  its  lesson,  it  was  necessary  that 
the  precise  offence  should  be  known.  Joshua's  kindly 
address  and  his  solemn  appeal  to  Achan  to  clear  the 
character  of  God  had  the  desired  effect.  ''  Achan 
answered  Joshua,  and  said,  Indeed  I  have  sinned 
against  the  Lord  God  of  Israel,  and  thus  and  thus 
have  I  done  :  when  I  saw  among  the  spoils  a  goodly 
Babylonish  garment,  and  two  hundred  shekels  of  silver, 
and  a  wedge  of  gold  of  fifty  shekels  weight,  then  I 
coveted  them,  and  took  them ;  and,  behold,  they  are 
hid  in  the  earth  in  the  midst  of  my  tent,  and  the  silver 
under  it." 

The  confession  certainly  was  frank  and  full ;  but 
whether  it  was  made  in   the  spirit  of  true   contrition, 


i8o  THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 

or  whether  it  was  uttered  in  the  hope  that  it  would 
mitigate  the  sentence  to  be  inflicted,  we  cannot  tell. 
It  would  be  a  comfort  to  us  to  think  that  Achan  was 
sincerely  penitent,  and  that  the  miserable  doom  which 
befell  him  and  his  family  ended  their  troubles,  and 
formed  the  dark  introduction  to  a  better  life.  Where 
there  is  even  a  possibility  that  such  a  view  is  correct 
we  naturally  draw  to  it,  for  it  is  more  than  our  hearts 
can  well  bear  to  think  of  so  awful  a  death  being 
followed  by  eternal  misery. 

Certain  it  is  that  Joshua  earnestly  desired  to  lead 
Achan  to  deal  with  God  in  the  matter.  *'  Make  con- 
fession," he  said,  '*unto  Him."  He  knew  the  virtue  of 
confession  to  God.  For  ''  he  that  covereth  his  sins 
shall  not  prosper;  but  whoso  confesseth  and  forsaketh 
them  shall  have  mercy"  (Prov.  xxviii.  13).  ''When  I 
kept  silencC;  my  bones  waxed  old  through  my  roaring 
all  the  day.  ...  I  acknowledged  my  sin  unto  Thee, 
and  mine  iniquity  have  I  not  hid.  I  said,  I  will 
confess  my  transgressions  unto  the  Lord ;  and  Thou 
forgavest  the  iniquity  of  my  sin  "  (Psalm  xxxii.  3,  5). 
It  is  a  hopeful  circumstance  in  Achan's  case  that  it  was 
after  this  solemn  call  to  deal  with  God  in  the  matter 
that  he  made  his  confession.  One  hopes  that  the 
sudden  appearance  on  the  scene  of  the  God  whom  he 
had  so  sadly  forgotten,  led  him  to  see  his  sin  in  its 
true  light,  and  drew  out  the  acknowledgment, — 
''Against  Thee,  Thee  only,  have  I  sinned."  For  no 
moral  effect  can  be  greater  than  that  arising  from  the 
difference  between  sin  covered  and  sin  confessed  to 
God.  Sin  covered  is  the  fruitful  parent  of  excuses, 
and  sophistries,  and  of  all  manner  of  attempts  to 
disguise  the  harsh  features  of  transgression,  and  to 
show  that,  after  all,  there  was  not  much  wrong  in  it. 


vii.]  ACHAN'S  PUNISHMENT.  i8t 


Sin  confessed  to  God  shows  a  fitting  sense  of  the  evil, 
of  the  shame  which  it  brings,  and  of  the  punishment 
which  it  deserves,  and  an  earnest  longing  for  that 
forgiveness  and  renewal  which,  the  gospel  now  shows 
us  so  clearly,  come  from  Jesus  Christ.  For  nothing 
becomes  a  sinner  before  God  so  Vv^ell  as  when  he  breaks 
down.  It  is  the  moment  of  a  new  birth  when  he  sees 
what  miserable  abortions  all  the  refuges  of  lies  are, 
and,  utterly  despairing  of  being  able  to  hide  himself 
from  God  in  his  filthy  rags,  unbosoms  everything 
to  Him  with  whom  '^  there  is  mercy  and  plenteous 
redemption,  and  who  will  redeem  Israel  from  all  his 
transgressions." 

It  is  a  further  presumption  that  Achan  was  a  true 
penitent,  that  he  told  so  frankl}^  where  the  various 
articles  that  he  had  appropriated  were  to  be  found. 
''  Behold,  the}^  are  hid  in  the  midst  of  my  tent."  They 
were  scalding  his  conscience  so  fearfully  that  he  could 
not  rest  till  they  were  taken  away  from  the  abode  which 
the}^  polluted  and  cursed.  They  seemed  to  be  crying 
out  against  him  and  his  w^ith  a  voice  which  could  not 
be  silenced.  To  bring  them  away  and  expose  them 
to  public  view  might  bring  no  relaxation  of  the  doom 
v/hich  he  expected,  but  it  would  be  a  relief  to  his  feel- 
ings if  they  were  dragged  from  the  hiding  hole  to  which 
he  had  so  wickedly  consigned  them.  For  the  articles 
were  now  as  hateful  to  him  as  formerly  the^^  had  been 
splendid  and  delightful.  The  curse  of  God  was  on 
them  now,  and  on  him  too  on  their  account.  Is  there 
anything  darker  or  deadlier  than  the  curse  of  God  ? 

And  now  the  consummation  arrives.  Messengers 
are  sent  to  his  tent,  they  find  the  stolen  goods,  they 
bring  them  to  Joshua,  and  to  all  the  children  of  Israel, 
and  they  lay  them  out  before  the  Lord.     We  are  not 


1 82  THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 


told  how  the  judicial  sentence  was  arrived  at.  But 
there  seems  to  have  been  no  hesitation  or  delay  about 
it.  "  Joshua  and  all  the  children  of  Israel  took  Achan 
the  son  of  Zerah,  and  the  silver,  and  the  garment,  and 
the  wedge  of  gold,  and  his  sons,  and  his  daughters,  and 
his  oxen,  and  his  asses,  and  his  sheep,  and  his  tent, 
and  all  that  he  had  :  and  they  brought  them  unto  the 
valley  of  Achor.  And  Joshua  said.  Why  hast  thou 
troubled  us  ?  the  Lord  shall  trouble  thee  this  day. 
And  all  Israel  stoned  him  with  stones,  and  they 
burned  him  with  fire,  after  they  had  stoned  them  with 
stones.  And  they  raised  over  him  a  great  heap  of 
stones  unto  this  day.  So  the  Lord  turned  from  the 
fierceness  of  His  anger.  Therefore  the  name  of  that 
place  was  called.  The  valley  of  Achor,  unto  this  day." 

It  seems  a  terrible  punishment,  but  Achan  had  already 
brought  defeat  and  disgrace  on  his  countrymen,  he 
had  robbed  God,  and  brought  the  whole  community  to 
the  brink  of  ruin.  It  must  have  been  a  strong  lust 
that  led  him  to  play  with  such  consequences.  What 
sin  is  there  to  which  covetousness  has  not  impelled 
men  ?  And,  strange  to  say,  it  is  a  sin  which  has 
received  but  little  check  from  all  the  sad  experience  of 
the  past.  Is  it  not  as  daring  as  ever  to-day  ?  Is  it 
not  the  parent  of  that  gambling  habit  which  is  the 
terror  of  all  good  men,  sapping  our  morality  and  our 
industry,  and  disposing  tens  of  thousands  to  trust  to 
the  bare  chance  of  an  unlikely  contingency,  rather  than 
to  God's  blessing  on  honest  industry  ?  Is  it  not  sheer 
covetousness  that  turns  the  confidential  clerk  into  a 
robber  of  his  employer,  and  uses  all  the  devices  of 
cunning  to  discover  how  long  he  can  carry  on  his 
infamous  plot,  till  the  inevitable  day  of  detection  arrive 
and  he  must  fl}',  a  fugitive  and  a  vagabond,  to  a  foreign 


nl]  ACHAN'S  PUNISHMENT.  183 


land  ?  Is  it  not  covetousness  that  induces  the  blithe 
young  maiden  to  ally  herself  to  one  whom  she  knows 
to  be  a  moral  leper,  but  who  is  high  in  rank  and  full 
of  wealth  ?  Is  it  not  the  same  lust  that  induces  the 
trader  to  send  his  noxious  wares  to  savage  countries 
and  drive  the  miserable  inhabitants  to  a  deeper  misery 
and  degradation  than  ever  ?  Catastrophes  are  always 
happening  :  the  ruined  gambler  blows  out  his  brains  ; 
the  dishonest  clerk  becomes  a  convict,  the  unhappy 
young  wife  gets  into  the  divorce  court,  the  scandalous 
trader  sinks  into  bankruptcy  and  misery.  But  there 
is  no  abatement  of  the  lust  which  makes  such  havoc. 
If  the  old  ways  of  indulging  it  are  abandoned,  new 
outlets  are  always  being  found.  Education  does  not 
cripple  it ;  civilization  does  not  uproot  it ;  even  Chris- 
tianity does  not  always  overcome  it.  It  goeth  about, 
if  not  like  a  roaring  lion,  at  least  Hke  a  cunning  serpent 
intent  upon  its  prey.  Within  the  Church,  where  the 
minister  reads  out  **  Thou  shalt  not  covet,"  and  where 
men  say  with  apparent  devoutness,  '^  Lord,  have  mercy 
upon  us,  and  incline  our  hearts  to  keep  this  law  " — as 
soon  as  their  backs  are  turned,  they  are  scheming  to 
break  it.  Still,  as  of  old,  '*  love  of  money  is  the  root  of 
all  evil,  which  while  some  coveted  after  they  erred  from 
the  faith,  and  pierced  themselves  through  with  many 


sorrows." 


Achan's  sin  has  found  him  out,  and  he  suffers  its 
bitter  doom.  All  his  visions  of  comfort  and  enjoyment 
to  be  derived  from  his  unlawful  gain  are  rudely  shattered. 
The  pictures  he  has  been  drawing  of  what  he  will  do 
with  the  silver  and  the  gold  and  the  garment  are  for 
ever  dispersed.  He  has  brought  disaster  on  the  nation, 
and  shame  and  ruin  on  himself  and  his  house.  In  all 
coming  time,   he  must  stand  in  the  pillory  of  history 


t84  the  book  of  JOSHUA. 


as  the  man  who  stole  the  forbidden  spoil  of  Jericho. 
That  disgraceful  deed  is  the  only  thing  that  will  ever 
be  known  of  him.  Further,  he  has  sacrificed  his  life. 
Young  though  he  is,  his  hfe  will  be  cut  short,  and  all 
that  he  has  hoped  for  of  enjoyment  and  honour  will 
be  exchanged  for  a  horrible  death  and  an  execrable 
memory.  O  sin,  thou  art  a  hard  master !  Thou 
draggest  thy  slaves,  often  through  a  short  and  rapid 
career,  to  misery  and  to  infamy ! 

Nevertheless,  the  hand  of  God  is  seen  here.  The 
punishment  of  sin  is  one  of  the  inexorable  conditions 
of  His  government.  It  may  look  dark  and  ugly  to  us, 
but  it  is  there.  It  may  create  a  very  different  feeling 
from  the  contemplation  of  His  love  and  goodness,  but  in 
our  present  condition  that  feeling  is  wholesome  and 
necessary.  As  we  follow  unpardoned  sinners  into  the 
future  world,  it  may  be  awful,  it  may  be  dismal  to  think 
of  a  state  from  which  punishment  will  never  be  absent ; 
but  the  awfulness  and  the  dismalness  will  not  change 
the  fact.  It  is  the  mystery  of  God's  character  that  He 
is  at  once  infinite  love  and  infinite  righteousness.  And 
if  it  be  unlawful  for  us  to  exclude  His  love  and  dwell 
only  on  His  justice,  it  is  equally  unlawful  to  exclude 
His  justice  and  dwell  only  on  His  love.  Now,  as  of 
old.  His  memorial  is,  ''The  Lord,  the  Lord  God  merciful 
and  gracious,  longsuflfering  and  abundant  in  mercy  and 
truth,  forgiving  iniquity  and  transgression  and  sin,  and 
that  will  by  no  means  clear  the  guilty." 

But  if  it  be  awful  to  contemplate  the  death,  and  the 
mode  of  death  of  Achan,  how  much  more  when  we 
think  that  his  wife  and  his  sons  and  his  daughters  were 
stoned  to  death  along  with  him  !  Would  that  not  have 
been  a  barbarous  deed  in  any  case,  and  was  it  not  much 
more  so  if  they  were  wholly  innocent  of  his  offence  ? 


vii.]  ACHAN'S  PUNISHMENT.  185 

To  mitigate  the  harshness  of  this  deed,  some  have 
supposed  that  they  were  privy  to  his  sin,  if  not 
instigators  of  it.  But  of  this  we  have  not  a  tittle  of 
evidence,  and  the  whole  drift  of  the  narrative  seems  to 
show  that  the  household  suffered  in  the  same  manner 
and  on  the  same  ground  as  that  of  Korah  (Num.  xvi. 
31-33).  As  regards  the  mode  of  death,  it  was  signifi- 
cant of  a  harsh  and  hard-tempered  age.  Neither  death 
nor  the  sufferings  of  the  dying  made  much  impression 
on  the  spectators.  This  callousness  is  almost  beyond 
our  comprehension,  the  tone  of  feeling  is  so  different 
now.  But  we  must  accept  the  fact  as  it  was.  And  as 
to  the  punishment  of  the  wife  and  children,  we  must 
fall  back  on  that  custom  of  the  time  which  not  only 
gave  to  the  husband  and  father  the  sole  power  and 
responsibility  of  the  household,  but  involved  the  wife 
and  children  in  his  doom  if  at  any  time  he  should 
expose  himself  to  punishment.  As  has  already  been 
said,  neither  the  wife  nor  the  children  had  any  rights 
as  against  the  husband  and  father ;  as  his  will  was  the 
sole  law,  so  his  retribution  was  the  common  inheritance 
of  all.  With  him  they  were  held  to  sin,  and  with  him 
they  suffered.  The}^  were  considered  to  belong  to  him 
just  as  his  hands  and  his  feet  belonged  to  him.  It  may 
seem  to  us  very  hard,  and  when  it  enters,  even  in  a 
modified  form,  into  the  Divine  economy  we  may  cry  out 
against  it.  Many  do  still,  and  ever  will  cry  out  against 
original  sin,  and  against  all  that  has  come  upon  our 
race  in  consequence  of  the  sin  of  Adam. 

But  it  is  in  vain  to  fight  against  so  apparent  a  fact. 
Much  wiser  surely  it  is  to  take  the  view  of  the  Apostle 
Paul,  and  rejoice  that,  under  the  economy  of  the  gospel, 
the  principle  of  imputation  becomes  the  source  of  bless- 
ing   infinitely  greater  than   the    evil  which  it  brought 


1 86  THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 

at  the  fall.  It  is  one  of  the  greatest  triumphs  of  the 
Apostle's  mode  of  reasoning  that,  instead  of  shutting 
his  eyes  to  the  law  of  imputation,  he  scans  it  carefully, 
and  compels  it  to  yield  a  glorious  tribute  to  the  goodness 
of  God.  When  his  theme  was  the  riches  of  the  grace 
of  God,  one  might  have  thought  that  he  would  desire 
to  give  a  wide  berth  to  that  dark  fact  in  the  Divine 
economy — the  imputation  of  Adam's  sin.  But  instead 
of  desiring  to  conceal  it,  he  brings  it  forward  in  all  its 
terribleness  and  universality  of  application  ;  but  with 
the  skill  of  a  great  orator,  he  turns  it  round  to  his 
side  by  showing  that  the  imputation  of  Christ's  right- 
eousness has  secured  results  that  outdo  all  the  evil 
flowing  from  the  imputation  of  Adam's  sin.  "  There- 
fore as  by  the  offence  of  one  judgment  came  upon  all 
men  to  condemnation ;  even  so  by  the  righteousness 
of  one  the  free  gift  came  upon  all  men  unto  justification 
of  life.  For  as  through  the  one  man's  disobedience  the 
many  were  made  sinners,  even  so  through  the  obedience 
of  the  one  shall  the  many  be  made  righteous.  More- 
over the  law  entered  that  the  offence  might  abound  ; 
but  where  sin  abounded,  grace  did  much  more  abound  : 
that,  as  sin  reigned  in  death,  even  so  might  grace  reign 
through  righteousness  unto  eternal  life,  through  Jesus 
Christ  our  Lord  "  (Rom.  v.  18-21). 

Very  special  mention  is  made  of  the  place  where  the 
execution  of  Achan  and  his  family  took  place.  "  They 
brought  them  unto  the  valley  of  Achor,  .  .  .  and  they 
raised  over  him  a  great  heap  of  stones,  .  .  .  wherefore 
the  name  of  that  place  is  called.  The  valley  of  Achor, 
unto  this  day."  Achor,  which  means  trouble^  seems  to 
have  been  a  small  ravine  near  the  lower  part  of  the 
valley  in  which  Ai  was  situated,  and  therefore  near  the 
scene  of  the  disaster  that  befell  the  Israelites.     It  was 


vii.]  ACHAN'S  PUNISHMENT.  187 

not  an  old  name,  but  a  name  given  at  the  time,  derived 
from  the  occurrence  of  which  it  had  just  been  the  scene. 
It  seemed  appropriate  that  poor  Achan  should  suffer  at 
the  very  place  where  others  had  suffered  on  his  account. 
It  is  subsequently  referred  to  three  times  in  Scripture. 
Later  in  this  book  it  is  given  as  part  of  the  northern 
boundary  of  the  tribe  of  Judah  (chap.  xv.  7) ;  in 
Isaiah  (Ixv.  10)  it  is  referred  to  on  account  of  its 
fertility;  and  in  Hosea  (ii.  15)  it  is  introduced  in  the 
beautiful  allegory  of  the  restored  wafe,  who  has  been 
brought  into  the  wilderness,  and  made  to  feel  her 
poverty  and  misery,  but  of  whom  God  says,  **  I  will  give 
her  vineyards  from  thence,  and  the  valley  of  Achor  for 
a  door  of  hope."  The  reference  seems  to  be  to  the 
evil  repute  into  which  that  valley  fell  by  the  sin  of 
Achan,  when  it  became  the  valley  of  trouble.  For,  by 
Achan's  sin,  what  had  appeared  likely  to  prove  the  door 
of  access  for  Israel  into  the  land  was  shut ;  a  double 
trouble  came  on  the  people — partly  because  of  their 
defeat,  and  partly  because  their  entrance  into  the  land 
appeared  to  be  blocked.  In  Hosea's  picture  of  Israel 
penitent  and  restored,  the  valley  is  again  turned  to  its 
natural  use,  and  instead  of  a  scene  of  trouble  it  again 
becomes  a  door  of  hope,  a  door  by  which  they  may  hope 
to  enter  their  inheritance.  It  is  a  door  of  hope  for  the 
penitent  wife,  a  door  by  which  she  may  return  to  her 
lost  happiness.  The  underlying  truth  is,  that  when  we 
get  into  a  right  relation  to  God,  what  were  formerly 
evils  become  blessings,  hindrances  are  turned  into 
helps.  Sin  deranges  everything,  and  brings  trouble 
everywhere.  The  ground  was  cursed  on  account  of 
Adam  :  not  literall}^,  but  indirectly,  inasmuch  as  it 
needed  hard  and  exhausting  toil,  it  needed  the  sweat 
of  his  face  to  make  it  yield  him  a  maintenance.      '*  We 


1 88  THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 


know/'  says  the  Apostle,  "  that  the  whole  creation 
groaneth  and  travaileth  in  pain  together  until  now." 
*'  For  the  creation  was  subjected  to  vanity,  not  of  its 
own  will,  but  by  reason  of  Him  who  subjected  it,  in 
hope  that  the  creation  itself  also  shall  be  delivered  out 
of  the  bondage  of  corruption  into  the  glorious  liberty 
of  the  children  of  God." 

No  man  can  tell  all  the  '*  trouble  "  that  has  come  into 
the  world  by  reason  of  sin.  As  little  can  we  know  the 
full  extent  of  that  deliverance  that  shall  take  place  when 
sin  comes  to  an  end.  If  we  would  know  anything  of 
this  we  must  go  to  those  passages  which  picture  to  us 
the  new  heavens  and  the  new  earth  :  '*  In  the  midst 
of  the  street  of  it,  and  on  either  side  of  the  river,  was 
there  the  tree  of  life,  which  bare  twelve  manner  of  fruits, 
and  yielded  her  fruit  every  month  :  and  the  leaves  of 
the  tree  were  for  the  healing  of  the  nations.  And  there 
shall  be  no  more  curse  :  but  the  throne  of  God  and  of 
the  Lamb  shall  be  in  it ;  and  His  servants  shall  serve 
Him :  and  they  shall  see  His  face ;  and  His  name  shall 
be  in  their  foreheads.  And  there  shall  be  no  night 
there  ;  and  they  need  no  candle,  neither  light  of  the 
sun  ;  for  the  Lord  God  giveth  them  light :  and  they 
shall  reign  for  ever  and  ever." 


CHAPTER    XVI. 

THE   CAPTURE   OF  A  I. 
Joshua  viii.  i — 29. 

JOSHUA,  having  dealt  faithfully  with  the  case  of 
Achan,  whose  sin  had  intercepted  the  favour  of  God, 
is  again  encouraged,  and  directed  to  renew,  but  more 
carefully,  his  attack  on  Ai.  That  word  is  addressed  to 
him  which  has  always  such  significance  when  coming 
from  the  Divine  lips — '^  Fear  not."  How  much  of  our 
misery  arises  from  fear !  How  many  a  beating  heart, 
how  many  a  shaking  nerve,  how  man}^  a  sleepless  night 
have  come,  not  from  evil  experienced,  but  from  evil 
apprehended !  To  save  one  from  the  apprehension  of 
evil  is  sometimes  more  important,  as  it  is  usually  far 
more  difficult,  than  to  save  one  from  evil  itself  An 
affectionate  father  finds  that  one  of  his  most  needed 
services  to  his  children  is  to  allay  their  fears.  Never 
is  he  doing  them  a  greater  kindness  than  when  he  uses 
his  larger  experience  of  life  to  assure  them,  in  some 
anxiety,  that  there  is  no  cause  for  fear.  Our  heavenly 
Father  finds  much  occasion  for  a  similar  course.  He 
has  indeed  got  a  very  timid  family.  It  is  most  inter- 
esting to  mark  how  the  Bible  is  studded  with  ^^  fear 
nots,"  from  Genesis  to  Revelation ;  from  that  early 
word  to  Abraham — ''  Fear  not,  I  am  thy  shield,  and 
thy  exceeding  great  reward  " — to  that  most  comforting 

189 


igo  THE  BOOK   OF  JOSHUA. 

assurance  to  the  beloved  disciple,  ''  Fear  not ;  I  am  the 
first  and  the  last :  I  am  He  that  liveth,  and  was  dead  ; 
and,  behold,  I  am  alive  for  evermore.  Amen  ;  and  have 
the  keys  of  hades  and  of  death,"  If  only  God's  children 
could  hear  Him  uttering  that  one  word,  from  how  much 
anxiety  and  misery  would  it  set  them  free  I 

Virtually  the  command  to  Joshua  is  to  ''  try  again." 
Success,  though  denied  to  the  first  effort,  often  comes 
to  the  next,  or  at  least  to  a  subsequent  one.  Even 
apart  from  spiritual  considerations,  it  is  those  who  try 
oftenest  who  succeed  best.  There  is  little  good  in  a 
man  who  abandons  an  undertaking  simply  because  he 
has  tried  once  and  failed.  Who  does  not  recall  in 
this  connection  the  story  of  Alfred  the  Great  ?  Or  of 
Robert  the  Bruce  watching  the  spider  in  the  barn  that 
at  last  reached  the  roof  after  sixteen  failures  ?  Or, 
looking  to  what  has  a  more  immediate  bearing  on  the 
kingdom  of  God,  who  has  not  admired  the  perseverance 
of  Livingstone,  undaunted  by  fever  and  famine,  and 
the  ferocity  of  savage  chiefs  ;  unmoved  by  his  longings 
for  home  and  dreams  of  plenty  and  comfort  that 
mocked  him  when  he  awoke  to  physical  wretchedness 
and  want  ?  Such  perseverance  gives  a  man  the  stamp 
of  true  nobility  ;  we  are  almost  tempted  to  fall  down 
and  worship.  If  failure  be  humiliating,  it  is  redeemed 
by  the  very  act  and  attitude  of  perseverance,  and  the 
self-denial  and  scorn  of  ease  which  it  involves.  In 
the  Christian  warfare  no  man  is  promised  victory  at 
the  first.  "  Let  us  not  be  weary  in  welldoing,  for  in 
due  season  we  shall  reap  if  we  faint  not." 

To  Christian  men  especially,  failure  brings  very 
valuable  lessons.  There  is  always  something  to  be 
learned  from  it.  In  our  first  attempt  we  were  too  self- 
confident.     We  went  too  carelessly  about  the  matter, 


viii.  1-29.]  THE   CAPTURE  OF  A  I.  191 


and  did  not  sufficiently  realize  the  need  of  Divine 
support.  Never  was  there  a  servant  of  God  who 
learned  more  from  his  failures  than  St.  Peter.  Nothing 
could  have  been  more  humiliating  than  his  thrice- 
repeated  denial  of  his  Lord.  But  when  Peter  came 
to  himself,  he  saw  on  what  a  bruised  reed  he  had  been 
leaning  when  he  said,  ''  Though  I  should  die  with  Thee 
yet  will  I  not  deny  Thee."  How  miserably  misplaced 
that  self-confidence  had  been  !  But  it  had  the  effect 
of  startling  him,  of  showing  him  his  danger,  and  of 
leading  him  to  lift  up  his  eyes  to  the  hills  from  whence 
came  his  help.  It  might  have  seemed  a  risky,  nay 
reckless  thing  for  our  Lord  to  commit  the  task  of  steering 
His  infant  Church  over  the  stormy  seas  of  her  first 
voyage  to  a  man  who,  six  weeks  before,  had  proved  so 
weak  and  treacherous.  But  Peter  was  a  genuine  man, 
and  it  was  that  first  failure  that  afterwards  made  him 
so  strong.  It  is  no  longer  Peter,  but  Christ  in  Peter 
that  directs  the  movement.  And  thus  it  came  to  pass 
that,  during  the  critical  period  of  the  Church's  birth,  no 
carnal  drawback  diminished  his  strength  or  diluted 
his  faith ;  all  his  natural  rapidity  of  movement,  all  his 
natural  outspokenness,  boldness,  and  directness  w^ere 
brought  to  bear  without  abatement  on  the  advancement 
of  the  young  cause.  He  conducted  himself  during  this 
most  delicate  and  vital  period  with  a  nobility  beyond 
all  praise.  He  took  the  ship  out  into  the  open  sea 
amid  raging  storms  without  touching  a  single  rock. 
And  it  was  all  owing  to  the  fact  that  by  God's  grace 
he  profited  by  his  failure  ! 

In  the  case  of  Joshua  and  his  people,  one  of  the  chief 
lessons  derived  from  their  failure  before  Ai  was  the 
evil  of  covering  sin.  Alas,  this  policy  is  the  cause  of 
failures  innumerable  in  the  spiritual  life  I    In  numberless 


192  THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 

ways  it  interrupts  Divine  fellowship,  withdraws  the 
Divine  blessing,  and  grieves  the  Holy  Spirit.  We 
have  not  courage  to  cut  off  a  right  hand  and  pluck  out 
a  right  eye.  We  leave  besetting  sins  in  a  corner  of 
our  hearts,  instead  of  trying  to  exterminate  them,  and 
determining  not  to  allow  them  a  foothold  there.  The 
acknowledgment  of  sin,  the  giving  up  of  all  leniency 
towards  it,  the  determination,  by  God's  grace,  to  be 
done  with  it,  always  go  before  true  revivals,  before  a 
true  return  of  God  to  us  in  all  His  graciousness  and 
power.  Rather,  we  should  say,  they  are  the  beginning 
of  revival.  In  Israel  of  old  the  land  had  to  be  purged 
of  every  vestige  of  idolatry  under  Hezekiah  and  other 
godly  kings,  before  the  light  of  God's  countenance  was 
again  lifted  upon  it.  '*  To  this  man  will  I  look,  even 
to  him  that  is  poor  and  of  a  contrite  spirit,  and  that 
trembleth  at  My  word." 

Joshua  is  instructed  to  go  up  again  against  Ai,  but 
in  order  to  interest  and  encourage  the  people,  he 
resorts  to  a  new  plan  of  attack.  A  stratagem  is  to  be 
put  in  operation.  An  ambuscade  is  to  be  stationed  on 
the  west  side  of  the  city,  v/hile  the  main  body  of  the 
assaulting  force  is  to  approach  it,  as  formerly,  from  the 
east.  There  is  some  obscurity  and  apparent  confusion 
in  the  narrative,  confined,  however,  to  one  point,  the 
number  composing  the  ambuscade  and  the  main  body 
respectively.  Some  error  in  the  text  appears  to  have 
crept  in.  From  the  statement  in  ver.  3  we  might 
suppose  that  the  men  who  were  to  lie  in  ambush 
amounted  to  thirty  thousand ;  but  in  ver.  12  it  is 
expressly  stated  that  only  five  thousand  were  employed 
in  this  way.  There  can  be  little  doubt  (though  it  is 
not  according  to  the  letter  of  the  narrative)  that  the 
whole   force  employed   amounted    to    thirty   thousand, 


viii.  1-29.]  THE   CAPTURE  OF  A  I.  193 


and  that,  of  these,  five  thousand  formed  the  ambush. 
Indeed,  in  such  a  valle}^,  it  would  not  have  been 
possible  for  thirty  thousand  men  to  conceal  themselves 
so  as  to  be  invisible  from  the  city.  It  would  appear 
(ver.  17)  that  the  people  of  Bethel  had  left  their  own 
village  and  gone  into  Ai.  Bethel,  as  we  have  said, 
was  situated  higher  up  ;  in  fact,  it  was  on  the  very 
ridge  of  the  plateau  of  Western  Palestine.  It  must 
have  been  but  a  little  place,  and  its  people  seem  to 
have  deemed  it  better  to  join  those  of  Ai,  knowing  that 
if  the  Israelites  were  repulsed  from  the  lower  city,  the 
upper  was  safe. 

The  ruse  was  that  the  ambush  should  be  concealed 
behind  the  city ;  that  Ai,  as  before,  should  be  attacked 
from  the  east  by  the  main  -body  of  troops  ;  that  on 
receiving  the  onslaught  from  the  city  they  should  seem 
to  be  defeated  as  before  ;  that  Joshua,  probably  standing 
on  some  commanding  height,  should  give  a  signal  to 
the  men  in  ambush  by  raising  his  spear ;  whereupon 
these  men  should  rush  down  on  the  now  deserted  place 
and  set  it  on  fire.  On  seeing  the  flames,  the  pursuers 
would  naturally  turn  and  rush  back  to  extinguish  them  ; 
then  the  main  body  of  Israel  would  turn  likev/ise,  and 
thus  the  enemy  would  be  caught  as  in  a  trap  from 
which  there  was  no  escape,  and  fall  a  victim  to  the 
two  sections  of  Israel. 

To  plots  of  this  kind,  the  main  objection  in  a  stra- 
tegical sense  lies  in  the  risk  of  detection.  For  the  five 
thousand  who  went  to  station  themselves  in  the  west 
it  was  a  somewhat  perilous  thing  to  separate  themselves 
from  the  host,  and  place  themselves  in  the  heart  of 
enemies  both  in  front  and  in  rear.  It  needed  strong 
faith  to  expose  themselves  in  such  a  situation.  Suppose 
they   had   been   detected   as  they  went   stealing  along 

13 


194  THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 

past  Ai  in  the  darkness  of  the  night ;  suppose  they  had 
come  on  some  house  or  hamlet,  and  wakened  the 
people,  so  that  the  alarm  should  have  been  carried  to  Ai, 
what  would  have  been  the  result  ?  It  was  well  for 
Israel  that  no  such  mishap  occurred,  and  that  they  were 
able  in  silence  to  reach  a  place  where  they  might  lie 
concealed.  The  •  ground  is  so  broken  by  rocks  and 
ravines  that  this  would  not  have  been  very  difficult ; 
the  people  of  Ai  suspected  nothing ;  probably  the  force 
on  the  east  were  at  pains,  by  camp-fires  and  otherwise, 
to  engage  their  attention,  and  whenever  that  force  began 
to  move,  as  if  for  the  attack,  every  eye  in  the  city  would 
be  fixed  intently  upon  it. 

The  plot  was  entirely  successful ;  everything  fell  out 
precisely  as  Joshua  had  desired.  A  terrible  slaughter 
of  the  men  of  Ai  took  place,  caught  as  they  wxre  on 
the  east  of  the  city  between  the  two  sections  of  Joshua's 
troops,  for  the  Israelites  gave  no  quarter  either  to  age 
or  sex.  The  whole  number  of  the  slain  amounted  to 
twelve  thousand,  and  that  probably  included  the  people 
of  Bethel  too.  We  see  from  this  what  an  insignificant 
place  Ai  must  have  been,  and  how  very  humiliating  was 
the  defeat  it  inflicted  at  first.  With  reference  to  the 
spoil  of  the  city,  the  rigid  law  prescribed  at  Jericho  was 
not  repeated  ;  the  people  got  it  for  themselves.  Jericho 
was  an  exceptional  case ;  it  was  the  firstfruits  of  the 
conquest,  therefore  holy  to  the  Lord.  If  Achan  had 
but  waited  a  little,  he  would  have  had  his  share  of  the 
spoil  of  Ai  or  some  other  place.  He  would  have  got 
legitimately  what  he  purloined  unlawfully.  In  the 
slaughter,  the  king,  or  chief  of  the  place,  suffered  a  more 
ignominious  doom  than  his  soldiers ;  instead  of  being 
slain  with  the  sword,  he  was  hanged,  and  his  body  was 
exposed   on  a  tree    till  sunset.     Joshua  did    not  want 


viii.  1-29.]  THE   CAPTURE  OP  AI.  195 

some  drops  of  Oriental  blood  ;  he  had  the  stern  pleasure 
of  the  Eastern  warrior  in  humbling  those  who  were 
highest  in  honour.  What  remained  of  the  city  was 
burned  ;  it  continued  thereafter  a  heap  of  ruins,  with  a 
great  cairn  of  stones  at  its  gate,  erected  over  the  dead 
body  of  the  king. 

We  see  that  already  light  begins  to  be  thrown  on 
what  at  the  time  must  have  seemed  the  very  severe  and 
rigid  order  about  the  spoil  of  Jericho.  Although  Achan 
was  the  only  offender,  he  was  probably  far  from  being 
the  only  complainer  on  that  occasion.  Many  another 
Israelite  with  a  covetous  heart  must  have  felt  bitterly 
that  it  was  very  hard  to  be  prevented  from  taking  even 
an  atom  to  oneself  "  Were  not  our  fathers  allowed 
to  spoil  the  Egyptians — why,  then,  should  we  be  abso- 
lutely prevented  from  having  a  share  of  the  spoil  of 
Jericho  ?  "  It  might  have  been  enough  to  answer  that 
God  claimed  the  firstfruits  of  the  land  for  Himself  Or 
to  say  that  God  designed  at  the  very  entrance  of  His 
people  into  Canaan  to  show  that  they  were  not  a  tumul- 
tuous rabble,  rushing  greedily  on  all  they  could  lay 
their  hands  on,  but  a  well-trained,  well-mannered  family, 
in  whom  self-restraint  was  one  of  the  noblest  virtues. 
But  to  all  this  it  might  have  been  added,  that  the 
people's  day  was  not  far  off  It  is  not  God's  method  to 
muzzle  the  ox  that  treadeth  out  the  corn.  And  so  to 
all  who  rush  tumultuously  upon  the  good  things  of  this 
life.  He  says,  "  Seek  first  the  kingdom  of  heaven  and 
His  righteousness,  and  all  these  things  shall  be  added 
unto  you."  Let  God  arrange  the  order  in  which  His 
gifts  are  distributed.  Never  hurry  Providence,  as  Sarah 
did  when  she  gave  Hagar  to  Abraham.  Sarah  had 
good  cause  to  repent  of  her  impetuosity ;  it  brought  her 
many  a  bitter  hour.     Whereas  God  was  really  kinder 


196  THE  BOOK   OF  JOSHUA. 


to  her  than  she  had  thought,  and  in  due  time  He  gave 
her  Isaac,  not  the  son  of  the  bondwoman,  but  her  own. 
A  question  has  been  raised  respecting  the  legitimacy 
of  the  stratagem  employed  by  Joshua  in  order  to  capture 
Ai.  Was  it  right  to  deceive  the  people ;  to  pretend 
to  be  defeated  while  in  reality  he  was  only  executing 
a  ruse,  and  thus  draw  on  the  poor  men  of  Ai  to  a 
terrible  death  ?  Calvin  and  other  commentators  make 
short  work  of  this  objection.  If  war  is  lawful,  stratagem 
is  lawful.  Stratagem  indeed,  as  war  used  to  be  con- 
ducted, was  a  principal  part  of  it ;  and  even  now  the 
term  "  strategic,"  derived  from  it,  is  often  used  to 
denote  operations  designed  for  a  different  purpose 
from  that  which  at  first  appears.  It  is  needless  to  dis- 
cuss here  the  lawfulness  of  war,  for  the  Israelites  were 
waging  war  at  the  express  command  of  the  Almighty, 
And  if  it  be  said  that  when  once  you  allow  the  principle 
that  it  is  lawful  in  war  to  mislead  the  enemy,  you 
virtually  allow  perfidy,  inasmuch  as  it  would  be  lawful 
for  you,  after  pledging  your  word  under  a  flag  of  truce, 
to  disregard  your  promise,  the  answer  to  that  is,  that 
to  mislead  in  such  circumstances  would  be  infamous. 
A  distinction  is  to  be  drawn  between  acts  where  the 
enemy  has  no  right  to  expect  that  you  will  make  known 
your  intention,  and  acts  where  they  have  such  a  right. 
In  the  ordinary  run  of  strategic  movements,  you  are 
under  no  obligation  to  tell  the  foe  what  you  are  about.  It 
is  part  of  their  business  to  watch  you,  to  scrutinize  your 
every  movement,  and  in  spite  of  appearances  to  divine 
your  real  purpose.  If  they  are  too  careless  to  watch, 
or  too  stupid  to  discern  between  a  professed  and  a  real 
plan,  they  must  bear  the  consequences.  But  when  a 
flag  of  truce  is  displayed,  when  a  meeting  takes  place 
under  its  protection,  and  when  conditions  are  agreed  to 


viii.  1-29.]  THE  CAPTURE  OF  AT  197 


on  both  sides,  the  case  is  very  different.  The  enemy 
is  entitled  now  to  expect  that  you  will  not  mislead  them. 
Your  word  of  honour  has  been  passed  to  that  effect. 
And  to  disregard  that  pledge,  and  deem  it  smart  to 
mislead  thereby,  is  a  proceeding  worthy  only  of  the 
most  barbarous,  the  most  perfidious,  the  most  shame- 
less of  men. 

Thus  far  we  may  defend  the  usages  of  war ;  but  at 
best  it  is  a  barbarous  mode  of  operations.  Very 
memorable  was  the  observation  of  the  Duke  of  Welling- 
ton, that  next  to  the  calamity  of  suffering  a  defeat  was 
that  of  gaining  a  victory.  To  look  over  a  great  battle- 
field, fresh  from  the  clash  of  arms ;  to  survey  the 
trampled  crops,  the  ruined  houses,  the  universal  desola- 
tion ;  to  gaze  on  all  the  manly  forms  lying  cold  in  death, 
and  the  many  besides  wounded,  bleeding,  groaning, 
perhaps  dying ;  to  think  of  the  illimitable  treasure  that 
has  been  lavished  on  this  work  of  destruction  and  the 
comforts  of  which  it  has  robbed  the  countries  engaged ; 
to  remember  in  what  a  multitude  of  cases,  death  must 
carry  desolation  and  anguish  to  the  poor  widow,  and 
turn  the  remainder  of  life  into  a  lonely  pilgrimage,  is 
enough  surely  to  rob  war  of  the  glory  associated  with 
it,  and  to  make  good  the  position  that  on  the  part  of 
civilized  and  Christian  men  it  should  only  be  the  last 
desperate  resort,  after  every  other  means  of  effecting 
its  object  has  failed.  We  are  not  forgetful  of  the  manly 
self-sacrifice  of  those  who  expose  themselves  so  readily  to 
the  risk  of  mutilation  and  death,  wherever  the  rulers  of 
their  country  require  it,  for  it  is  the  redeeming  feature 
of  war  that  it  brings  out  so  much  of  this  high  patriotic 
devotion  ;  but  surely  they  are  right  who  deem  arbitra- 
tion the  better  method  of  settling  national  differences ; 
who  call   for   a   great   disarmament    of  the    European 


198  THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 


nations,  and  would  put  a  stop  to  the  attitude  of  every 
great  country  shaking  its  fist  in  the  face  of  its  neigh- 
bours. What  has  become  of  the  prophecy  *'  They  shall 
beat  their  swords  into  ploughshares  and  their  spears 
into  pruning  hooks  "  ?  Or  the  beautiful  vision  of  Milton 
on  the  birth  of  the  Saviour  ? — 

"  No  war,  or  battle's  sound 

Was  heard  the  world  around  ; 
The  idle  spear  and  shield  were  high  uphung; 
The  hooked  chariot  stood 
Unstained  with  hostile  blood, 
The  trumpet  spake  not  to  the  armed  throng; 
And  kings  sat  still  with  awful  eye 
As  if  they  surely  knew  their  sovran  Lord  was  by." 

One  lesson  comes  to  us  with  pre-eminent  force  from 
the  operations  of  war.  The  activity  displayed  by  every 
good  commander  is  a  splendid  example  for  all  of  us  in 
spiritual  warfare.  ^'  Joshua  arose  "  ;  '*  Joshua  lodged 
that  night  among  the  people";  ''Joshua  rose  up 
early  in  the  morning  "  ;  '*  Joshua  went  that  night  into 
the  middle  of  the  valley  "  ;  /'  Joshua  drew  not  his  hand 
back  wherewith  he  stretched  out  the  spear,  until  he 
had  utterly  destroyed  all  the  inhabitants  o\  Ai."  Such 
expressions  show  how  intensely  in  earnest  he  was,  how 
unsparing  of  himself,  how  vigilant  and  indefatigable  in 
all  that  bore  upon  his  enterprise.  And  generally  we 
still  see  that,  wherever  military  expeditions  are  under- 
taken, they  are  pushed  forward  with  untiring  energy, 
and  the  sinews  of  war  are  supplied  in  unstinted  abun- 
dance, whatever  grumbling  there  may  be  afterwards 
when  the  bill  comes  to  be  paid.  Has  the  Christian 
Church  ever  girded  herself  for  the  great  enterprise  of 
conquering  the  world  for  Christ  with  the  same  zeal 
and  determination  ?  What  are  all  the  sums  of  money 
contributed  for  Christian  missions,  compared  to  those 


viii.  I -29. J  THE  CAPTURE  OF  AI.  I99 

spent  annually  on  military  and  naval  forces,  and  multi- 
plied indefinitely  when  active  war  goes  on  1  Alas, 
this  question  brings  out  but  one  result  of  a  painful 
comparison — the  contrast  between  the  ardour  with 
which  secular  results  are  pursued  by  secular  men, 
and  spiritual  results  by  spiritual  men.  Let  the  rumour 
spread  that  gold  or  diamonds  have  been  found  at  some 
remote  region  of  the  globe,  what  multitudes  flock  to 
them  in  the  hope  of  possessing  themselves  of  a  share 
of  the  spoil  I  Not  even  the  prospect  of  spending 
many  days  and  nights  in  barbarism,  amid  the  misery 
of  dirt  and  heat  and  insects,  and  with  company  so 
rude  and  rough  and  reckless  that  they  have  hardly  the 
appearance  of  humanity,  can  overcome  the  impetuous 
desire  to  possess  themselves  of  the  precious  material, 
and  come  home  rich.  What  crowds  rush  in  when 
the  prospectus  of  a  profitable  brewery  promises  an 
abundant  dividend,  earned  too  often  b}^  the  manufactory 
of  drunkards  !  What  eager  eyes  scan  the  advertise- 
ments that  tell  you  that  if  persons  bearing  a  certain 
name,  or  related  to  one  of  that  name,  would  apply  at 
a  certain  address,  they  would  hear  of  something  to 
their  advantage  I  Once  we  knew  of  a  young  man 
who  had  not  even  seen  such  an  advertisement,  but  had 
been  told  that  it  had  appeared.  There  was  a  vague 
tradition  in  his  family  that  in  certain  circumstances  a 
property  would  fall  to  them.  The  mere  rumour  that  an 
advertisement  had  appeared  in  which  he  was  interested 
set  him  to  institute  a  search  for  it.  He  procured  a  file 
of  the  Times  newspaper,  reaching  over  a  series  of  years, 
and  eagerly  scanned  its  advertisements.  Failing  to  find 
there  v/hat  he  was  in  search  of,  he  procured  sets  of 
other  daily  newspapers  and  subjected  them  to  the  same 
process.     And  thus  he  went  on  and  on  in  his  unwearied 


200  THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 


search,  till  first  he  lost  his  situation,  then  he  lost  his 
reason,  and  then  he  lost  his  life.  What  will  men  not 
do  to  obtain  a  corruptible  crown  ?  Could  it  be  sup- 
posed from  our  attitude  and  ardour  that  we  are  striving 
for  the  incorruptible  ?  Could  it  be  thought  that  the 
riches  which  we  are  striving  to  accumulate  are  not 
those  which  moth  and  rust  do  corrupt,  but  the  treasures 
that  endure  for  evermore  ?  Surely  "  it  is  high  time  for 
us  to  awake  out  of  sleep."  Surely  we  ought  to  lay  to 
heart  that  *'  the  things  which  are  seen  are  temporal,  but 
the  things  which  are  not  seen  are  eternal."  Memorable 
are  the  poet's  words  respecting  the  great  objects  of 
human  desire  : — 

"The  cloud-capt  towers,  the  gorgeous  palaces, 
The  solemn  temples,  the  great  globe  itself, 
Yea,  all  which  it  inherit,  shall  dissolve  : 
And  like  this  unsubstantial  pageant  faded, 
Leave  not  a  rack  behind." 


CHAPTER   XVll. 

EBAL  AND   GERIZIM. 
Joshua  viii.  30—35. 

COMMENTATORS  on  Joshua  have  been  greatly 
perplexed  by  the  place  which  this  narrative  has  in 
our  Bibles.  No  one  can  study  the  map,  and  take  into 
account  the  circumstances  of  Joshua  and  the  people, 
without  sharing  in  this  perplexity.  It  will  be  observed 
from  the  map  that  Ebal  and  Gerizim,  rising  from  the 
plain  of  Shechem,  are  a  long  way  distant  from  Ai  and 
Bethel.  If  we  suppose  Joshua  and  not  his  army  only, 
but  the  whole  of  his  people  (ver.  33),  to  have  gone 
straight  from  Gilgal  to  Mount  Ebal  after  the  capture 
of  Ai,  the  journey  must  have  occupied  several  days 
each  way,  besides  the  time  needed  for  the  ceremony 
that  took  place  there.  It  certainly  would  have  needed 
an  overwhelming  reason  to  induce  him  at  such  a  time, 
first  to  march  a  host  like  this  all  the  way  to  Mount 
Ebal,  and  then  to  march  them  back  to  their  encampment 
at  Gilgal.  Hence  many  have  come  to  believe  that,  in 
some  way  which  we  cannot  explain,  this  passage  has 
been  inserted  out  of  its  proper  place.  The  most 
natural  place  for  it  would  be  at  the  end  of  chap.  xi.  or 
chap,  xii.,  after  the  conquest  of  the  whole  country, 
and  before  its  division  among  the  tribes.  Nearly  all 
the   manuscripts   of  the   Septuagint    insert  it  between 

201 


202  THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 

vv.  2  and  3  of  the  ninth  chapter,  but  this  does  not  go 
far  to  remove  the  difficulty.  It  has  been  thought  by 
some  that  Joshua  left  the  original  Gilgal  in  the  plain 
of  Jordan,  and  fixed  his  camp  at  another  Gilgal,  trans- 
ferring the  name  of  his  first  encampment  to  the  second. 
Mention  is  certainly  made  in  Scripture  of  another  Gilgal 
in  the  neighbourhood  of  Bethel  (2  Kings  ii.  2),  but 
nothing  is  said  to  lead  us  to  suppose  that  Joshua  had 
removed  his  encampment  thither. 

Some  have  thought  that  no  record  has  been  pre- 
served of  one  of  Joshua's  great  campaigns,  the  cam- 
paign in  which  he  subdued  the  central  part  of  the 
country.  A  good  deal  may  be  said  for  this  supposition. 
In  the  list  of  the  thirty-one  kings  whom  he  subdued 
over  the  country  (chap,  xii.)  we  find  several  whose 
dominions  were  in  this  region.  For  instance,  we  know 
that  Aphek,  Taanach,  and  Megiddo  were  all  situated 
in  the  central  part  of  the  country,  and  probably  other 
cities  too.  Yet,  while  the  fact  is  recorded  that  they 
were  defeated,  no  mention  is  made  of  any  expedition 
against  them.  They  belonged  neither  to  the  confederacy 
of  Adonizedec  in  the  south  nor  to  that  of  Jabin  in  the 
north,  and  they  must  have  been  subdued  on  some 
separate  occasion.  It  is  just  possible  that  Joshua 
defeated  them  before  encountering  the  confederacy  of 
Adonizedec  at  Gibeon  and  Bethhoron.  But  it  is  far 
more  likel}^  that  it  was  after  that  victory  that  he 
advanced  to  the  central  part  of  the  country. 

On  the  whole,  while  admitting  the  perplexity  of  the 
question,  we  incline  to  the  belief  that  the  passage  has 
been  transferred  from  its  original  place.  This  in  no 
way  invalidates  the  authority  of  the  book,  or  of  the 
passage,  for  in  the  most  undoubtedly  authentic  books 
of  Scripture  we  have  instances  beyond  question — very 


viii.3o-35-]  EBAL  AND   GERIZIM.  203 

notably  in  Jeremiah — of  passages  inserted  out  of  their 
natural  order. 

It  has  been  said  that  the  passage  in  Deuteronomy 
(xxvii.  4-19)  could  not  have  been  written  by  Moses, 
because  he  had  never  set  foot  in  Canaan,  and  therefore 
could  not  have  been  acquainted  with  the  names  or  the 
locality  of  Ebal  and  Gerizim.  On  the  contrary,  we 
believe  that  he  had  very  good  reason  to  be  acquainted 
with  both.  For  at  the  foot  of  Ebal  lay  the  portion 
of  ground  which  Jacob  gave  to  his  son  Joseph,  and 
where  both  Jacob's  well  and  Joseph's  tomb  are  pointed 
out  at  the  present  day.  That  piece  of  ground  must 
have  been  familiar  to  Jacob,  and  carefully  described  to 
Joseph  by  its  great  natural  features  when  he  made 
it  over  to  him.  And  as  Joseph  regarded  it  as  his 
destined  burial-place,  the  tradition  of  its  situation  must 
have  been  carefully  transmitted  to  those  that  came 
after  him,  when  he  gave  commandment  concerning  his 
bones.  Joseph  was  not  the  oldest  son  of  Jacob,  any 
more  than  Rachel  was  his  oldest  wife,  and  for  these 
reasons  neither  of  them  was  buried  in  the  cave  of 
Machpelah.  Moses  therefore  had  good  reasons  for 
being  acquainted  with  the  locality.  Probably  it  was  at 
the  time  of  the  ceremony  at  Ebal  that  the  bones  of  Joseph 
were  buried,  although  the  fact  is  not  recorded  till  the 
very  end  of  the  book  (Josh.  xxiv.  32).  But  that  passage, 
too,  is  evidently  not  in  its  natural  place. 

It  was  a  most  fitting  thing  that  when  he  had  com- 
pleted the  conquest  of  the  country,  Joshua  should  set 
about  performing  that  great  national  ceremony,  designed 
to  rivet  on  the  people's  hearts  the  claims  of  God's  law 
and  covenant,  which  had  been  enjoined  b}'^  Moses  to 
be  performed  in  the  valley  of  Shechem.  For  though 
Joshua  was  neither  priest  nor  prophet,  yet  as  a  warm 


204  THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 


believer  and  earnest  servant  of  God,  he  felt  it  his  duty 
on  all  suitable  occasions  to  urge  upon  the  people  that 
there  was  no  prosperity  for  them  save  on  condition  of 
loyalty  to  Him.  He  sought  to  mingle  the  thought  of 
God  and  of  God's  claims  with  the  very  life  of  the 
nation  ;  to  make  it  run,  as  it  were,  in  their  very  blood  ; 
to  get  them  to  think  of  the  Divine  covenant  as  their 
palladium,  the  very  pledge  of  all  their  blessings,  their 
one  only  guarantee  of  prosperity  and  peace. 

When  therefore  Joshua  conducted  his  people  to  the 
Mounts  Ebal  and  Gerizim,  in  order  that  they  might 
have  the  obligations  of  the  law  set  before  them  in  a 
form  as  impressive  as  it  was  picturesque,  he  was  not 
merely  fulfilling  mechanically  an  injunction  of  Moses, 
but  performing  a  transaction  into  which  he  himself 
entered  heart  and  soul.  And  when  the  v/riter  of  the 
book  records  the  transaction,  it  is  not  merely  for  the 
purpose  of  showing  us  how  certain  acts  prescribed  in 
a  previous  book  were  actually  performed,  but  for  the 
purpose  of  perpetuating  an  occurrence  which  in  the 
whole  future  history  of  the  nation  would  prove  either 
a  continual  inspiration  for  good,  or  a  testimony  against 
them,  so  that  out  of  their  own  life  they  should  be 
condemned.  Knov/ing  Joshua  as  we  do,  we  can  easily 
believe  that  all  along  it  was  one  of  his  most  cherished 
projects  to  implement  the  legacy  of  Moses,  and  super- 
intend this  memorable  covenanting  act.  It  must  have 
been  a  great  relief  from  the  bloody  scenes  and  awful 
experiences  of  war  to  assemble  his  people  among  the 
mountains,  and  engage  them  in  a  service  which  was 
so  much  more  in  harmony  with  the  beauty  and  sublimity 
of  nature.  No  critic  or  writer  who  has  any  sense  of 
the  fitness  of  things  can  coolly  remove  this  transaction 
from  the  sphere  of  history  into  that  of  fancy,  or  deprive 


viii.30-35]  EBAL   AND   GERIZIM.  205 


Joshua  of  his  share  in  a  transaction  into  which  his  heart 
was  doubtless  thrown  as  enthusiastically  as  that  of 
David  in  after  times  when  the  ark  was  placed  upon 
Mount  Zion. 

It  could  not  be  without  thrilling  hearts  that  Joshua 
and  all  of  his  people  who  were  like-minded  entered  the 
beautiful  valley  of  Shechem,  which  had  been  the  first 
resting-place  in  Canaan  of  their  father  Abraham,  the 
first  place  where  God  appeared  to  him,  and  the  first 
place  where  "he  builded  an  altar  unto  the  Lord" 
(Gen.  xii.  6,  7).  By  general  consent  the  valley  of 
Shechem  holds  the  distinction  of  being  one  of  the  most 
beautiful  in  the  country.  ''  Its  v/estern  side,"  says 
Stanley,  ''is  bounded  by  the  abutments  of  two  moun- 
tain ranges,  running  from  west  to  east.  These  ranges 
are  Gerizim  and  Ebal ;  and  up  the  opening  between 
them,  not  seen  from  the  plain,  lies  the  modern  town  of 
Nablous  [Neapohs  =  Shechem].  ...  A  valley  green 
with  grass,  grey  with  olives,  gardens  sloping  down  on 
each  side,  fresh  springs  running  down  in  all  directions ; 
at  the  end  a  white  town  embosomed  in  all  this  verdure, 
lodged  betw^een  the  two  high  mountains  which  extend 
on  each  side  of  the  valley — that  on  the  south  Gerizim, 
that  on  the  north  Ebal ; — this  is  the  aspect  of  Nablous, 
the  most  beautiful,  perhaps  it  might  be  said  the  only 
very  beautiful   spot  in   Central   Palestine." 

If  the  host  of  Israel  approached  Ebal  and  Gerizim 
from  the  south,  they  would  pass  along  the  central  ridge 
or  plateau  of  the  country  till  they  reached  the  vale  of 
Shechem,  where  the  mountain  range  would  appear  as 
if  it  had  been  cleft  from  top  to  bottom  by  some  great 
convulsion  of  nature.  Then,  as  now,  the  country  was 
studded  thickly  with  villages,  the  plains  clothed  with 
grass  and  grain,  and  the  rounded  hills  with  orchards  of 


2o6  THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 

fig,  olive,  pomegranate,  and  other  trees.  On  either  side 
of  the  fissure  rose  a  hill  of  about  eight  hundred  feet, 
about  the  height  of  Arthur  Seat  at  Edinburgh,  Ebal  on 
the  north  and  Gerizim  on  the  south.  It  was  not  like 
the  scene  at  Sinai,  where  the  bare  and  desolate  moun- 
tains towered  up  to  heaven,  their  summits  lost  among 
the  clouds.  This  was  a  more  homely  landscape,  amid 
the  fields  and  dwellings  where  the  people  were  to  spend 
their  daily  life.  If  the  proclamation  of  the  law  from 
Sinai  had  something  of  an  abstract  and  distant  character, 
Ebal  and  Gerizim  brought  it  home  to  the  business  and 
bosoms  of  men.  It  was  now  to  be  the  rule  for  every 
day,  and  for  every  transaction  of  every  day ;  the  bride 
was  now  to  be  settled  in  her  home,  and  if  she  was  to 
enjoy  the  countenance  and  the  company  of  her  heavenly 
Bridegroom,  the  law  of  His  house  must  be  fully  imple- 
mented, and  its  every  requirement  riveted  on  her  heart. 

The  ceremony  here  under  Joshua  was  twofold  :  first, 
the  rearing  of  an  altar ;  and  second,  the  proclamation 
of  the  law. 

I.  The  altar,  as  enjoined  in  Exod.  xx.  24,  was  of 
whole,  undressed  stones.  In  its  simple  structure  it  was 
designed  to  show  that  the  Most  High  dwelleth  not 
in  temples  made  with  hands.  In  its  open  position  it 
demonstrated  that  the  most  fitting  place  for  His  worship 
was  not  the  secret  recesses  of  the  woods,  but  the  open 
air  and  full  light  of  heaven,  seeing  that  He  is  light,  and 
in  Him  is  no  darkness  at  all.  On  this  altar  were  offered 
burnt  offerings  and  peace  offerings  to  the  Lord.  The 
sacrificial  system  had  been  little  attended  to  amid  the 
movements  of  the  wilderness,  and  the  warlike  opera- 
tions in  which  the  people  had  been  more  or  less 
engaged  ever  since  their  entrance  on  the  land ;  but 
now  was   the   beginning  of  a   more   regular  worship. 


viii.30-35-]  EBAL  AND  GERIZIM.  207 

The  first  transaction  here  performed  was  the  sacrificial. 
Here  sin  was  called  to  mind,  and  the  need  of  propitiation. 
Here  it  was  commemorated  that  God  Himself  had  ap- 
pointed a  method  of  propitiation  ;  that  He  had  thereby 
signified  His  gracious  desire  to  be  at  peace  with  His 
people  ;  that  He  had  not  left  them  to  sigh  out,  "  Oh 
that  we  knew  where  we  might  find  Him,  that  we  might 
come  even  to  His  seat  !  " — but  had  opened  to  His  people 
the  gates  of  righteousness,  that  they  might  go  in  and 
praise  the  Lord. 

Moreover,  Vv^e  read  in  Joshua,  that  ''  he  wrote  there 
upon  the  stones  a  copy  of  the  law  of  Moses,  which 
he  wrote  in  the  presence  of  the  children  of  Israel." 
There  is  sufficient  difference  between  the  passages  in 
Deuteronomy  and  Joshua  to  show  that  the  one  was 
not  copied  from  the  other.  From  Joshua  we  might 
suppose  that  it  was  on  the  stones  of  the  altar  that 
Joshua  wrote,  and  there  is  no  reference  to  the  com- 
mand given  in  Deuteronomy  to  plaister  the  stones  with 
plaister.  But  from  Deuteronomy  it  is  plain  that  it 
was  not  the  stones  of  the  altar  that  were  plaistered 
over,  but  memorial  stones  set  up  for  the  purpose. 
There  has  been  no  little  controversy  as  to  the  manner 
in  which  this  injunction  was  carried  out.  According 
to  Dr.  Thomson,  in  the  *'  Land  and  the  Book,"  the 
matter  is  very  simple.  The  difficulty  in  the  eyes  of 
commentators  has  arisen  from  the  idea  that  plaister  is 
altogether  too  soft  a  substance  to  retain  the  impression 
of  what  is  written  on  it.  This  Dr.  Thomson  wholly 
disputes  :  "A  careful  examination  of  Deut.  xxvii.  4,  8 
and  Josh.  viii.  30-32  will  lead  to  the  opinion  that  the 
law  was  written  upon  and  in  the  plaister  with  which 
these  pillars  were  coated.  This  could  easily  be  done ; 
and   such  writing  was  common  in  ancient   times.      I 


2o8  THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 

have   seen    numerous    specimens   of  it   certainly   more 
than  two  thousand  years  old,  and  still   as  distinct  as 
when  they  were  first  inscribed  upon  the  plaister.   .   .   . 
In  this  hot  climate,  where  there  is  no  frost  to  dissolve 
the   cement,    it   will    continue    hard   and    unbroken   for 
thousands  of  years, — which  is   certainly  long  enough. 
The  cement  on  Solomon's  pools  remains  in  admirable 
preservation,  though  exposed  to  all  the  vicissitudes  of 
the  climate  and  with  no  protection.  .  .  .  What  Joshua 
did  therefore,  when  he  erected   those  great  stones  on 
Mount  Ebal,  was  merely  to  write  in  the  still  soft  cement 
with  a   style,   or  more   likely  on  the  polished   surface 
when   dry,   with  red   paint,   as    in    ancient    tombs.     If 
properly  sheltered,  and  not   broken   by  violence,    they 
would  have  remained  to  this  day." 

Joshua  could  not  have  written  the  whole  of  the  law 
on  his  pillars  ;  it  was  probably  only  the  ten  command- 
ments. As  we  shall  see,  another  arrangement  v/as 
made  for  the  rehearsal  of  the  whole  law  ;  it  was  solemnly 
read  out  afterwards.  But  now  the  entire  nation,  with 
all  the  strangers  and  followers,  took  up  their  position 
in  the  valley  between  the  two  mountains.  Half  of 
the  tribes  separated  from  the  rest  to  the  slopes  of 
Gerizim,  and  the  other  half  to  those  of  Ebal.  From 
Deuteronomy  we  gather  that  those  who  v/ere  grouped 
on  Gerizim  were  far  the  more  important  and  numerous 
tribes.  They  embraced  Simeon,  Levi,  Judah,  Issachar, 
Joseph,  and  Benjamin.  On  Mount  Ebal  were  stationed 
Reuben,  Gad  and  Asher,  Zebulun,  Dan  and  Naphtali. 
The  priests  stood  between,  and  read  out  blessings  and 
curses.  When  blessings  were  read  out  the  tribes  on 
Gerizim  shouted  Amen.  When  curses  were  read  out 
those  on  Ebal  did  the  same.  Let  us  imagine  the  scene. 
A  mountain  side  covered  with  people  is  always  a  pictur- 


viii.  30-35-]  EBAL  AND  GERIZlM.  iog 


esque  sight,  and  the  effect  is  greatly  heightened  when 
the  clothing  of  the  multitude  is  of  light,  bright  colours, 
as  probably  it  was  on  this  occasion.  **  It  was,"  says 
Dr.  Thomson,  "  beyond  question  or  comparison  the 
most  august  assembly  the  sun  has  ever  shone  upon  ; 
and  I  never  stand  in  the  narrow  plain,  with  Ebal  and 
Gerizim  rising  on  either  hand  to  the  sky,  without  in- 
voluntarily recalling  and  reproducing  the  scene.  I  have 
shouted  to  hear  the  echo,  and  then  fancied  how  it  must 
have  been  when  the  loud-voiced  Levites  proclaimed 
from  the  naked  cliffs  of  Ebal,  *  Cursed  is  the  man  that 
maketh  any  graven  image,  an  abomination  to  Jehovah.' 
And  then  the  tremendous  Amen  1  tenfold  louder  from 
the  united  congregation,  rising  and  swelling  and  re- 
echoing from  Ebal  to  Gerizim,  and  from  Gerizim  to 
Ebal.  Amen  !  Even  so,  let  him  be  accursed.  No, 
there  never  was  an  assembly  to  compare  with  this." 

Very  explicit  mention  is  made  of  the  fact  that  '^  there 
was  not  a  word  of  all  that  Moses  commanded  which 
Joshua  read  not  before  all  the  congregation  of  the 
children  of  Israel,  with  the  women  and  the  Httle  ones 
and  the  strangers  that  were  conversant  among  them." 
This  obviously  implies  that  the  law  of  Moses  was  in 
definite  form,  and  that  the  reading  of  it  took  up  a 
considerable  portion  of  time. 

The  order  of  events  had  been  very  significant.  First, 
a  great  work  of  destruction — the  dispossession  of  the 
Canaanites.  Next,  the  erection  of  an  altar,  and  the 
offering  up  of  sacrifices.  And,  lastly,  the  inscribing  and 
proclamation  of  the  law.  ^'  The  surgeon  has  done  his 
duty,  and  now  nature  will  proceed  to  heal  and  comfort 
and  bless.  The  enemy  has  been  driven  off  the  field. 
Now  the  altar  is  put  up  and  the  law  is  promulgated. 
Society  without  law  is  chaos.     An  altar  without  right- 

H 


210  THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 

eousness  is  evaporative  sentiment.  Prayer  without 
duty  may  be  a  detachment  of  the  wings  from  the  bird 
they  were  designed  to  assist.  .  .  .  Having  done  the 
destructive  work,  do  not  imagine  that  the  whole  pro- 
gramme is  complete  ;  now  begins  the  construction  of 
the  altar.  And  having  made  a  place  for  prayer,  do  not 
imagine  that  the  whole  duty  of  man  has  been  perfected  ; 
next  put  up  the  law ;  battle,  prayer,  law ;  law,  prayer, 
battle."  1 

If  the  conjecture  that  this  passage  originally  occupied 
a  later  place  in  the  book  be  correct,  the  army  was 
now  about  to  be  disbanded,  and  the  people  were  about 
to  be  settled  in  homes  of  their  ov/n.  It  was  a  momen- 
tous crisis.  They  were  about  to  lose,  in  a  great  degree, 
the  influence  of  union,  and  the  presence  of  men  like 
Joshua  and  the  godly  elders,  whose  noble  example  and 
stirring  words  had  ever  been  a  power  for  what  was 
good  and  true.  Scattered  over  the  land,  they  would 
now  be  more  at  the  control  of  their  own  hearts,  and 
often  of  what  in  them  was  least  noble  and  least  godly. 
On  the  part  of  Joshua,  everything  had  been  done,  by 
this  solemn  gathering,  to  secure  that  they  should  separ- 
ate with  the  remembrance  of  God's  mighty  works  on 
their  behalf  filling  their  hearts,  and  the  words  of  God's 
law  ringing  in  their  ears. 

'  "  The  People's  Bible,"  by  Joseph  Parker,  D.D. 


CHAPTER   XVIII. 

THE  STRATAGEM    OF    THE    GIBEONITES. 

Joshua  ix. 

WE  now  resume  the  thread  of  the  story  interrupted 
b}^  the  narrative  of  the  transaction  at  Ebal  and 
Gerizim.  We  learn  from  the  testimony  of  Rahab  of 
Jericho,  as  uttered  to  the  spies  (chap.  ii.  9),  that  the 
terror  of  Israel  had  caused  the  hearts  of  the  inhabitants 
of  the  country  to  faint,  and  that  the  fame  of  all  that  had 
been  done  for  them  by  Jehovah  had  quite  paralysed 
them.  But  when  the  host  of  Israel  actually  entered 
Western  Palestine,  and  began  their  conquest  by  the 
destruction  of  Jericho  and  Ai,  the  inhabitants  seem  to 
have  plucked  up  courage,  and  begun  to  consider  what 
could  be  done  in  self-defence.  It  is  very  probable  that 
they  found  considerable  encouragement  from  what 
happened  at  Ai.  There  it  had  been  seen  that  Israel  was 
not  invincible.  Insignificant  though  Ai  was,  its  people 
had  been  able  to  repel  with  great  success  the  first  attack 
of  the  Israelites.  And  though  they  had  been  destroyed 
in  the  second,  this  was  achieved  only  by  the  combined 
influence  of  stratagem  and  an  overwhelming  force. 
The  supernatural  power  under  which  Jericho  had  fallen 
had  not  been  shown  at  Ai,  and  might  not  come  into 
play  in  the  future.  There  was  therefore  yet  a  chance 
for  the  Canaanites,  if  they  should  combine  and  act  in 

21 1 


212  THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 

concert.  Steps  were  therefore  taken  for  such  a  union. 
The  kings  or  chiefs  who  occupied  the  hills,  or  central 
plateau  of  the  country  ;  those  of  the  valleys,  inter- 
spersed between  the  mountains  ;  and  those  occupying 
the  Shephelah,  or  maritime  plains  of  Philistia,  Sharon, 
and  Phoenicia  ; — all  the  nations  comprised  under  the 
well-known  names  Hittites,  Amorites,  Canaanites, 
Perizzites,  Hivites,  and  Jebusites,  entered  into  a  league 
of  defence,  and  prepared  to  confront  Joshua  and  the 
Israelites  with  a  determined  resistance.  The  news  of 
the  confederacy  would  bring  a  tremor  over  some  timid 
hearts  in  the  camp  of  Israel,  but  would  cause  no  serious 
anxiety  to  Joshua  and  all  the  men  of  faith,  who,  like  him, 
felt  assured  that  the  Lord  was  with  them. 

There  was  one  native  community,  however,  that 
determined  to  follow  another  course.  The  Gibeonites 
were  a  branch  of  the  Hivite  race,  inhabiting  the  town 
of  Gibeon,  and  some  other  prominent  towns  in  the  great 
central  plateau  of  the  country.  Gibeon  is  undoubtedly 
represented  now  by  the  village  of  El  Jib,  situated  about 
half-way  between  Jerusalem  and  Bethel,  four  or  five 
miles  distant  from  each.  Dr.  Robertson  describes 
El  Jib  as  situated  in  a  beautiful  plain  of  considerable 
extent,  on  an  oblong  hill  or  ridge,  composed  of  layers 
of  limestone,  rising  as  if  by  regular  steps  out  of  the 
plain.  In  the  days  of  Joshua,  it  was  a  place  of  great 
importance,  a  royal  city,  and  it  had  under  its  jurisdiction 
the  towns  of  Beeroth,  Chephirah,  and  Kirjath-jearim. 
Its  inhabitants  were  in  no  humour  to  fight  with  Joshua. 
They  had  faith  enough  to  understand  what  would  be  the 
inevitable  result  of  that,  and  therein  they  were  right, 
and  the  confederate  kings  were  wrong.  On  the  other 
hand,  they  were  not  prepared  to  make  an  honest  and 
unconditional    surrender.     They    probably    knew    that 


IX. J  THE  STRATAGEM  OF  THE   GIBEONITES.  213 

the  orders  under  which  Joshua  was  acting  called  on 
him  to  destroy  all  the  people  of  the  land,  and  they  had 
no  assurance  that,  being  of  the  doomed  na.tions,  open 
submission  would  secure  their  lives.  They  resolved 
therefore  to  proceed  by  stratagem.  A  detachment  was 
appointed  to  wait  on  Joshua  at  his  camp  at  Gilgal,  as  if 
they  were  ambassadors  from  a  distant  country,  and 
represent  to  him  in  pious  tone  that  they  had  come  from 
afar,  *'  because  of  the  name  of  the  Lord  his  God,  having 
heard  the  fame  of  Him,  and  all  that  He  did  in  Egypt, 
and  all  that  He  did  to  the  two  kings  of  the  Amorites 
that  were  beyond  Jordan,  to  Sihon  King  of  Heshbon, 
and  to  Og  King  of  Bashan."  They  came  with  the 
desire  to  show  respect  to  the  people  whose  God  was  so 
powerful,  and  to  be  allowed,  though  far  off,  to  live  at 
peace  with  them.  Then  they  presented  their  credentials, 
as  it  were ;  showing  the  old  sacks,  the  shrivelled 
bottles,  the  musty  bread  they  had  brought  with  them, 
and  the  clouts  upon  their  feet  and  ragged  garments 
which  attested  the  great  length  of  their  journey. 
''  Those  old  Gibeonites,"  says  the  *'  Land  and  the  Book," 
^'  did  indeed  '  work  wilily  '  with  Joshua.  Nothing  could 
be  better  calculated  to  deceive  than  their  devices.  I  have 
often  thought  that  their  ambassadors,  as  described  in 
the  narrative,  furnish  one  of  the  finest  groups  imaginable 
for  a  painter ;  with  their  old  sacks  on  their  poor  asses  ; 
their  wine  bottles  of  goat  skin,  patched  and  shrivelled 
up  in  the  sun,  old,  rent,  and  bound  up  ;  old  shoes  and 
clouted  upon  their  feet ;  old  garments,  ragged  and 
bedraggled,  with  bread  dry  and  mouldy, — the  very 
picture  of  an  over-travelled  and  wearied  caravan  from 
a  great  distance.  It  is  impossible  to  transfer  to  paper 
the  ludicrous  appearance  of  such  a  company.  No 
wonder  that,  having  tasted  their  mouldy  victuals,  and 


214  THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 


looked  upon  their  soiled  and  travel-worn  costume, 
Joshua  and  the  elders  were  deceived,  especially  as  they 
did  not  wait  to  ask  counsel  at  the  mouth  of  the  Lord." 

It  was  just  the  completeness  of  the  disguise  that 
threw  Joshua  and  the  men  of  Israel  off  their  guard. 
For  at  first  the  idea  did  occur  to  them  that  the  strangers 
might  be  neighbours,  and  therefore  of  the  nations  that 
they  were  called  on  to  destroy.  On  closer  inspection, 
however,  that  seemed  out  of  the  question ;  indeed,  the 
supposition  was  so  utterly  preposterous  that  it  was 
deemed  hardly  fitting  to  bring  the  matter  before  the 
Lord.  It  is  as  plain  as  day,  Joshua  and  the  elders 
would  reason  ;  the  evidence  of  what  they  say  is  beyond 
question  ;  theirs  is  no  case  of  perplexity  requiring  us  to 
go  to  God  ;  we  may  surely  exercise  our  common  sense 
and  make  a  league  with  these  far-travelled  men.  In 
a  short  time  they  will  be  back  in  their  own  country,  far 
beyond  our  boundaries,  and  the  only  effect  of  their  visit 
and  of  our  league  will  be  a  fresh  tribute  to  the  name 
and  power  of  Jehovah,  a  fresh  testimony  to  His  presence 
with  us,  and  a  fresh  pledge  that  He  will  bear  us  to 
success  in  the  enterprise  in  which  we  are  engaged. 
And  when  the  confederate  kings  that  are  now  leaguing 
against  us  hear  that  this  distant  people  have  come  to  us 
to  propitiate  our  favour,  they  will  be  struck  by  a  new 
terror  and  will  be  the  more  easily  subdued. 

We  see  in  all  this  the  simple,  unsuspecting  spirit  of 
men  who  have  spent  their  lives  in  the  wilderness.  As 
for  the  Gibeonites,  there  was  a  combination  of  good  and 
bad  in  their  spirit.  They  remind  us  in  a  measure  of 
the  woman  with  the  issue  of  blood.  In  her  there  was 
certainly  faith  ;  but  along  with  the  faith,  extraordinary 
superstition.  In  the  Gibeonites  there  was  faith — a 
belief  that  Israel  was  under  the  protection  of  a  remark- 


ix.]  THE  STRATAGEM  OF  THE   GIBEONITES.  215 


able  Divine  power,  under  a  Divine  promise  the  truth 
of  which  even  Balaa.m  had  very  recently  acknowledged 
— *'  1  will  bless  them  that  bless  thee,  and  curse  him 
thatcurseth  thee."  Undoubtedly  a  religious  feehng  lay 
at  the  bottom  of  the  proceeding.  A  great  divine  Being 
was  seen  to  be  involved,  who  was  on  Israel's  side  and 
against  his  enemies,  and  it  would  not  do  to  trifle  with 
Him.  But  in  their  way  of  securing  exemption  from  the 
effects  of  His  displeasure,  the  grossest  superstition 
appeared.  They  were  to  gain  their  object  by  deceit. 
They  were  to  get  Him  to  favour  them  above  their 
neighbours  through  an  elaborate  system  of  fraud, 
through  a  tissue  of  lies,  through  unmitigated  falsehood. 
What  a  strange  conception  of  God  !  What  blindness 
to  His  highest  attributes, — His  holiness  and  His  truth  ! 
What  amazing  infatuation  to  suppose  that  they  could 
secure  His  blessing  through  acts  fitted  to  provoke  His 
utmost  displeasure  !  What  a  miserable  God  men 
fashion  to  themselves  when  they  simply  invest  Him 
with  almighty  power,  or  perhaps  suppose  Him  to  be 
moved  by  v/hims  and  prejudices  and  favouritisms  like 
frail  man,  but  omit  to  clothe  Him  with  His  highest 
glory — forget  that  *' justice  and  judgment  ?a'e  the 
habitation  of  His  throne,  mercy  and  truth  go  before 
His  face." 

The  conduct  of  the  men  v/as  the  more  strange  that  it 
was  impossible  that  they  should  not  be  speedily  found 
out.  And  it  was  quite  possible  that,  when  found  out, 
they  would  be  dealt  with  more  severely  than  ever. 
True,  indeed,  Joshua,  when  he  did  detect  their  plot,  did 
not  so  act ;  he  acted  on  a  high,  perhaps  a  mistaken 
sense  of  honour  ;  but  they  had  no  right  to  count  on 
that.  Timidity  is  a  poor  adviser.  All  it  can  do  is  to 
turn  the  next  corner.     True   faith,  resting  on  eternal 


2i6  THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 

truth,  acts  for  eternity.  True  faith  is  often  bhnd,  but 
in  the  deepest  darkness  it  knows  that  it  is  on  the  right 
track,  and  under  the  guidance  of  the  eternal  Hght. 
Bhnd  faith  is  very  different  from  Wind  fear.  Faith 
holds  on  in  full  expectation  of  deliverance  ;  fear  trembles 
and  stumbles,  in  perpetual  dread  of  exposure  and 
humiliation. 

**  A  lying  tongue  is  but  for  a  moment ; "  and  the 
Gibeonite  fraud  lived  just  three  days.  Then  it  was 
discovered  by  Joshua  that  the  Gibeonites  lived  in  the 
immediate  neighbourhood.  But  before  that,  he  had 
made  peace  with  them,  and  entered  into  a  league  to  let 
them  live,  and  the  princes  of  the  congregation  had  con- 
firmed it  by  an  oath.  Nothing  could  have  been  more 
provoking  than  to  discover  that  they  had  been  duped 
and  swindled.  It  is  always  a  very  bitter  experience  to 
find  that  our  confidence  has  been  misplaced.  Men 
v/hom  we  thought  trustworthy,  and  whom  we  com- 
mended to  others  as  trustworthy,  have  turned  out 
knaves.  It  is  hard  to  bear,  for  we  have  committed  our- 
selves to  our  friends  in  the  matter.  What  would  Joshua 
and  his  people  think  now  of  the  supposed  tribute  to  the 
God  of  Israel,  and  the  impression  expected  to  be  made 
on  the  confederate  kings  ?  Before  all  the  inhabitants 
of  Canaan  he  and  his  people  were  befooled,  humiliated. 
Not  a  man  in  all  the  country  but  would  be  making 
merry  at  their  expense.  Yet  even  that  was  not  the 
worst  of  it.  They  had  been  guilty  of  over-confidence, 
and  of  neglect  of  means  that  were  in  their  hands  ;  they 
had  neglected  to  get  counsel  of  their  God.  They  had 
trusted  in  their  own  hearts  when  they  ought  to  have 
sought  guidance  from  above.  The  trouble  was  their 
own  creation  ;  they  were  alone  to  blame. 

We  cannot  but  respect  the  way  in  which  Joshua  and 


X.  THE  STRATAGEM   OF  THE  GIBEONITES.  217 

the  princes  acted  when  they  discovered  the  fraud.  It 
might  have  been  competent  to  repudiate  the  league  on 
the  ground  that  it  was  agreed  to  by  them  under  false 
pretences.  It  was  made  on  the  representation  that  the 
Gibeonites  had  come  from  a  far  countr}^,  and  when  that 
was  seen  to  be  utterly  untrue  there  would  have  been 
an  honourable  ground  for  repudiating  the  transaction. 
But  Joshua  did  not  avail  himself  of  this  loophole.  He 
and  the  princes  had  such  respect  for  the  sanctity  of 
an  oath  that,  even  when  they  discovered  that  they  had 
been  grossly  deceived,  they  would  not  resile  from  it. 
It  seems  to  have  been  the  princes  that  took  up  this 
ground,  and  they  did  so  in  opposition  to  the  congrega- 
tion (ver.  1 8).  The  fact  that  the  name  of  the  Lord  God 
of  Israel  had  been  invoked  in  the  oath  sworn  to  the 
Gibeonites  constrained  them  to  abide  by  the  trans- 
action. It  is  a  good  sign  of  their  spirit  that  they  were 
so  jealous  of  the  honour  of  their  God,  and  of  the 
sanctity  of  their  oath.  They  came  out  of  the  transaction 
with  more  honour  than  we  should  have  expected.  Per- 
sonal interests  were  subordinated  to  higher  considera- 
tions. They  carried  out  that  great  canon  of  true  religion 
— first  and  foremost  giving  ''glory  to  God  in  the 
highest." 

But  though  the  lives  of  the  Gibeonites  were  spared, 
that  was  all.  They  were  to  be  reduced  to  a  kind  of 
slavery — to  be  *'  hewers  of  wood  and  drawers  of  water 
for  the  congregation  and  the  altar  of  God."  The 
expression  has  become  a  household  w^ord  to  denote  a 
life  of  drudgery,  but  perhaps  we  fail  to  recognise  the  full 
significance  of  the  terms.  '*  I  w^as  forcibly  reminded  of 
this,"  says  the  author  of  ''The  Land  and  the  Book," 
"  by  long  files  of  women  and  children  (near  El  Jib) 
carrying  on  their  heads  heavy  bundles  of  wood.   .  ,   , 


21 8  THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 


It  is  the  severest  kind  of  drudgery,  and  my  compassion 
has  often  been  enhsted  in  behalf  of  the  poor  women 
and  children,  who  daily  bring  loads  of  wood  to  Jeru- 
salem from  these  very  mountains  of  the  Gibeonites. 
To  carry  water,  also,  is  very  laborious  and  fatiguing. 
The  fountains  are  far  off,  in  deep  wadies  with  steep 
banks,  and  a  thousand  times  have  I  seen  the  feeble  and 
the  young  staggering  up  long  and  weary  ways  with 
large  jars  of  water  on  their  heads.  It  is  the  work  of 
slaves,  and  of  the  very  poor,  whose  condition  is  still 
worse.  Among  the  pathetic  lamentations  of  Jeremiah 
there  is  nothing  more  affecting  than  this  :  '  They  took 
the  young  men  to  grind,  and  the  children  fell  under 
the  wood'  (i.  i6).  Grinding  at  the  hand-mill  is  a  low, 
menial  work,  assigned  to  female  slaves,  and  therefore 
utterly  humiliating  to  the  young  men  of  Israel.  And 
the  delicate  children  of  Zion  falling  under  the  loads  of 
hard,  rough  wood,  along  the  mountain  paths  !  Alas  I 
'  for  these  things  I  weep  ;  mine  eye,  mine  eye  runneth 
down  with  water,  because  the  comforter  that  should 
relieve  my  soul  is  far  from  me  :  my  children  are  deso- 
late, because  the  enemy  prevailed.' " 

Respecting  the  after  history  of  Gibeon  and  the 
Gibeonites  we  find  some  notices  in  the  Old  Testament, 
but  none  in  the  New.  At  one  time  there  was  a  sanc- 
tuary at  Gibeon,  even  after  the  ark  had  been  removed 
to  Mount  Zion ;  for  it  was  at  Gibeon  that  Solomon 
offered  his  great  sacrifice  of  a  thousand  burnt  offerings, 
and  had  that  remarkable  dream  in  which,  in  reply  to 
the  Divine  offer  of  a  choice  of  gifts,  he  chose  wisdom 
in  preference  to  any  other  (i  Kings  iii.  4  5^.).  But 
the  most  remarkable  reappearance  of  the  Gibeonites  in 
history  is  in  the  reigns  of  Saul  and  David.  For  some 
unknown  reason,  and  probably  quite  unjustly,  Saul  had 


ix.]  THE  STRATAGEM  OF  THE  GIBEONITES.         219 


put  some  of  them  to  death.     And  in  the  reign  of  David, 
probably   the   early   part   of  it,    when   a   succession   of 
famines  desolated  the  land,  and  inquiry  was  made  as 
to  the  cause,   the  reply  of  the  oracle  w^as  :  *'  It  is  for 
Saul    and    his    bloody    house,    because    he    slew    the 
Gibeonites."       And    it    was    to    avenge    this    unjust 
slaughter    that    seven    descendants   of  Saul   were    put 
to   death,  on  that  occasion  w^hen    Rizpah,   the  mother 
of  two  of  them,  showed  such  remarkable  affection  by 
guarding  their  dead  bodies  from  the  beasts  and  birds 
of  prey.     It  is  possible  that  even  after  the  Babylonian 
captivity    some    Gibeonites    survived    under    their   old 
name,  because  it  is  said  in  Nehemiah  that  among  the 
others    who     repaired    the    v/all    of    Jerusalem    were 
'*  Melatiah  the  Gibeonite,  and  Jadon  the   Meronothite, 
the  men  of  Gibeon,  and  of  Mizpah  "  (iii.  7).      Only  it 
is  uncertain  whether  Melatiah  was  of  the  old  Gibeonite 
stock,   or   an   Israelite   who    had   Gibeon   for    his   city. 
While  the  old  Gibeonites  did  survive  they  seem  to  have 
had  a  miserable  lot,  and  the  question  might  have  been 
often  asked  by  them — Did  our  fraud  bring  us  any  real 
good  ?     Is  life  worth  living  ? 

Does  anything  resembling  this  fraud  of  the  Gibeonites 
ever  take  place  among  ourselves  ?  In  answer,  let  us 
ask  first  of  all,  what  is  the  meaning  of  pious  frauds  ? 
Are  they  not  transactions  where  fraud  is  resorted  to 
in  order  to  accomplish  what  are  supposed  to  be  religious 
ends  ?  Granting  that  the  fraud  of  the  Gibeonites  was 
not  for  a  religious  but  for  a  secular  object — their  deliver- 
ance from  the  sword  of  Joshua — still  they  professed,  in 
practising  it,  to  be  doing  honour  to  God.  It  is  the  part 
of  superstition  at  once  to  lower  the  intellectual  and  the 
moral  attributes  of  God.  It  often  represents  that  the 
most  frivolous  acts,  the  uttering  of  mysterious  words. 


220  THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 


or  the  performance  of  senseless  acts  have  such  a  power 
over  God  as  to  bring  about  certain  desired  results. 
More  frequently  it  holds  that  cruelty,  falsehood,  injustice, 
and  other  crimes,  if  brought  to  bear  on  religious  or 
ecclesiastical  ends,  are  pleasing  in  God's  sight.  Is 
there  anything  more  truly  odious  than  this  severance 
of  religion  from  morality  and  humanity, — this  repre- 
sentation that  fraud  and  other  immoral  acts  have  value 
before  God  ?  How  can  anything  be  a  real  religious 
gain  to  a  man,  how  can  it  be  otherwise  than  disastrous 
in  the  last  degree,  if  it  develops  a  fraudulent  spirit,  if 
it  perverts  his  moral  nature,  if  it  deepens  and  intensifies 
the  moral  disorder  of  his  heart?  If  men  saw  'Hhe 
beaut}^  of  holiness,"  "the  beauty  of  the  Lord,"  they 
could  never  bring  their  minds  to  such  miserable  distor- 
tions. It  is  pure  blasphemy  to  suppose  that  God  could 
thus  demean  Himself  It  is  self-degradation  to  imagine 
that  anything  that  can  be  gained  by  oneself  through 
such  means,  could  make  up  for  v/hat  is  lost,  or  for  the 
guilt  incurred  by  such  wickedness. 

And  this  suggests  a  wider  thought — the  fearful 
miscalculation  men  make  whensoever  they  resort  to 
fraud  in  the  hope  of  reaping  benefit  by  means  of  it. 
Yet  v>^hat  practice  is  more  common  ?  The  question  is, 
Does  it  really  pay  ?  Does  it  pay,  for  instance,  to  cheat 
at  cards  ?  Have  we  not  seen  recently  what  swift  and 
terrible  retribution  that  may  bring,  making  us  feel  for 
the  culprit  as  we  might  have  felt  for  Cain.  Does  it  pay 
the  merchant  to  cheat  as  to  the  quality  of  his  goods  ? 
Does  it  not  leak  out  that  he  is  not  to  be  trusted,  and 
does  not  that  suspicion  lose  more  to  him  in  the  long 
run  than  it  gains  ?  Does  it  pay  the  preacher  to  preach 
another  man's  sermon  as  his  own  ?  Or,  to  vary  the 
illustration,     When  one  has  entrapped  a  maiden  under 


ix.]  THE  STRATAGEM  OF  THE  GIBEONITES.         221 

false  promises,  and  then  forsakes  her ;  or  when  he 
conceals  the  fact  that  he  is  already  married  to  another ; 
or  when  he  controls  himself  for  a  time,  to  conceal  from 
her  his  ill  temper,  or  his  profligate  habits,  or  his  thirst 
for  strong  drink,  does  it  pay  in  the  end  ?  The  question 
is  not,  Does  he  succeed  in  his  immediate  object  ?  but. 
How  does  the  matter  end  ?  Is  it  a  comfortable  thought 
to  any  man  that  he  has  broken  a  trustful  heart,  that  he 
has  brought  misery  to  a  happy  home,  that  he  has  filled 
some  one's  life  with  lamentation  and  mourning  and 
v/oe  ?  We  are  not  thinking  only  of  the  future  life, 
when  so  many  wrongs  will  be  brought  to  light,  and  so 
many  men  and  women  will  have  to  curse  the  infatuation 
that  made  fraud  their  friend  and  evil  their  good.  We 
think  of  the  present  happiness  of  those  who  live  in  an 
atmosphere  of  fraud,  and  worship  daily  at  its  shrine. 
Can  such  disordered  souls  know  aught  of  real  peace 
and  solid  joy  ?  In  the  case  of  some  of  them,  are  there 
not  occasional  moments  of  sober  feeling,  when  they 
think  what  their  life  was  given  them  for,  and  contrast 
their  selfish  and  heartless  devices  with  the  career  of 
those  who  deal  truly  and  live  to  do  good  ?  Bitter,  very 
bitter  is  the  feeling  which  the  contrast  raises.  It  is 
bitter  to  think  how  unfit  one  is  for  the  society  of 
honest  men  ;  how  the  master  one  is  serving  is  the  father 
of  lies ;  and  how,  even  when  the  master  does  gi'ant  one 
a  momentary  success,  it  is  at  the  sacrifice  of  all  self- 
respect  and  conscious  purity,  and  with  a  dark  foreboding 
of  wrath  in  the  life  to  come. 

All  Eastern  nations  get  the  character  of  being  deceit- 
ful ;  but  indeed  the  weed  may  be  said  to  flourish  in 
every  soil  where  it  has  not  been  rooted  out  by  living 
Christianity.  But  if  it  be  peculiarly  characteristic  of 
Eastern  nations,  is  it  not  remarkable  how  constantly  it 


222  THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 


is  rebuked  in  the  Bible,  even  though  that  book  sprang 
from  an  Eastern  soil  ?  No  doubt  the  record  of  the 
Bible  abounds  with  instances  of  deceit,  but  its  voice  is 
always  against  them.  And  its  instances  are  always 
instructive.  Satan  gained  nothing  by  deceiving  our 
first  parents.  Jacob  was  v/ell  punished  for  deceiving 
Isaac.  David's  misleading  of  the  high  priest  when  he 
fled  from  Saul  involved  ultimately  the  slaughter  of  the 
whole  priestly  household.  Ananias  and  Sapphira  had 
an  awful  experience  when  they  lied  unto  the  Holy 
Ghost.  All  through  the  Bible  it  is  seen  that  \ying  lips 
are  an  abomination  to  the  Lord,  but  they  that  deal 
truly  are  His  delight.  And  when  our  blessed  Lord 
comes  to  show  us  the  perfect  life,  how  free  He  is  from 
the  slightest  taint  or  vestige  of  deceit !  How  beautifully 
transparent  is  His  whole  life  and  character  1  No  little 
child  with  his  honest  smile  and  open  face  was  ever 
more  guileless.  In  the  light  of  that  perfect  example, 
who  among  us  does  not  blush  for  our  errors — for  our 
man}^  endeavours  to  conceal  what  we  have  done,  to 
appear  better  than  we  were,  to  seem  to  be  pleasing  God 
when  we  were  pleasing  ourselves,  or  to  be  aiming  at 
God's  glory  when  we  were  really  consulting  for  our 
own  interests  ?  Is  it  possible  for  us  ever  to  be  worthy 
of  such  a  Lord  ?  First,  surely,  we  must  go  to  His 
cross,  and,  bewailing  all  our  unworthiness,  seek  accept- 
ance through  His  finished  work.  And  then  draw  from 
His  fulness,  even  grace  for  grace ;  obtain  through  the 
indwelling  of  His  Spirit  that  elixir  of  life  which  will 
send  a  purer  life-blood  through  our  souls,  and  assimilate 
us  to  Him  of  vs^hom  His  faithful  apostle  wrote  :  ^'  He 
did  not  sin,  neither  was  guile  found  in  His  mouthy 


CHAPTER   XIX. 

THE  BATTLE   OF  BETHHORON. 
Joshua  x. 

OUT  of  the  larger  confederacy  of  the  whole 
Canaanite  chiefs  against  Joshua  and  his  people 
recorded  in  the  beginning  of  chap,  ix.,  a  smaller 
number,  headed  by  Adonizedec,  undertook  the  special 
task  of  chastising  the  Gibeonites,  who  had  not  only 
refused  to  join  the  confederacy,  but,  as  it  was  thought, 
basely  and  treacherousl}^  surrendered  to  Joshua.  It  is 
interesting  to  find  the  King  of  Jerusalem,  Adonizedec, 
bearing  a  name  so  similar  to  that  of  Melchizedek,  King 
of  Salem,  in  the  da3^s  of  Abraham.  No  doubt,  since  the 
days  of  Jerome,  there  have  been  some  who  have  denied 
that  the  Salem  of  Meichizedek  was  Jerusalem.  But 
the  great  mass  of  opinion  is  in  favour  of  the  identity  of 
the  two  places.  Meichizedek  means  King  of  Righteous- 
ness ;  Adonizedec,  Lord  of  Righteousness  ;  in  substance 
the  same.  It  was  a  striking  name  for  a  ruler,  and  it 
was  remarkable  that  it  should  have  been  kept  up  so 
long,  although  in  the  time  of  Adonizedec  its  signifi- 
cance had  probably  been  forgotten.  Jerusalem  was 
but  five  miles  south  of  Gibeon  ;  the  other  four  capitals, 
whose  chiefs  jomed  in  the  expedition,  v/ere  farther  off. 
Hebron,  eighteen  miles  south  of  Jerusalem,  was  memor- 
able   in    patriarchal    history    as    the    dwelling-place    of 

223 


224  THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 


Abraham  and  the  burial-place  of  his  family ;  Jarmuth, 
hardly  mentioned   in   the   subsequent   history,   is   now 
represented    by    Yarmuk,    six    miles    from    Jerusalem ; 
Lachish,  of  which  we  have  frequent  mention  in  Scrip- 
ture, is  probably  represented  by  Um  Lakis,  about  fifteen 
miles  south-west  of  Jerusalem  ;  and  Eglon   by  Ajlan, 
a  Httle  farther  west.    The  five  Httle  kingdoms  embraced 
most  of  the  territory  afterwards  known  as  the  tribe  of 
Judah,   and    they  must    have    been    far   more    than    a 
match  for  Gibeon.     Their  chiefs  are   called  ''  the  five 
Amorite  kings,"  but  this  does  not  imply  that  they  were 
exclusively   of  the   Amorite  race,    for   '*  Amorite,"   like 
**  Canaanite,"  is  often    used    generically  to   denote  the 
whole  inhabitants  (as  in  Gen.  xv.  1 6).     The  five  chiefs 
were  so  near  Gibeon  that  it  was  quite  natural  for  them 
to  undertake  this  expedition.     No  doubt  they  reckoned 
that,  by  making  a  treaty  with  Joshua,  the  Gibeonites 
had  strengthened  his  hands  and  weakened  those  of  his 
opponents  ;  they  had  made  resistance  to  Joshua  more 
difficult  for  the  confederacy,  and  therefore  they  deserved 
to  be  chastised.     To  turn  their  arms  against  Gibeon, 
when  they  had  Joshua  to  deal  with,  was  probably  an 
unwise  proceeding ;  but  to  their  resources  it  would  seem 
a  very  easy  task.     Gibeon  enjoyed  nothing  of  that  aid 
from  a  great  unseen  Power  that  made  Joshua  so  formid- 
able ;  little  could  they  have  dreamt  that  Joshua  would 
come  to  the  assistance  of  his  new  allies,  and  with  God's 
help   inflict  on    them  a  crushing  defeat.     *'  The  Lord 
bringeth    the    counsel   of  the  heathen    to  nought,   He 
maketh  the  devices  of  the  people  of  none  effect.     The 
counsel  of  the  Lord  standeth  for  ever,  the  thoughts  of 
His  heart  to  all  generations." 

The  case  was  very  serious  for  the  Gibeonites.     As 
Gibeon  lay  so  near  Jerusalem  and  the  cities  of  the  other 


x.]  THE  BATTLE  OF  BETHHORON.  225 

confederates,  it  is  likely  that  the  appearance  of  the 
enemy  before  its  walls  was  the  first,  or  nearly  the  first, 
intimation  of  the  coming  attack.  In  their  extremity  they 
sent  to  Joshua  imploring  help,  and  the  terms  in  v/hich 
they  besought  him  not  to  lose  a  moment,  but  come  to 
them  at  his  utmost  speed,  show  the  urgency  of  their 
danger.  To  appeal  to  Joshua  at  all  after  their  shameful 
fraud  was  a  piece  of  presumption,  unless — and  this  is 
very  unlikely — the  treaty  between  them  had  promised 
protection  from  enemies.  Had  Joshua  been  of  a  mean 
nature  he  would  have  chuckled  over  their  distress,  and 
congratulated  himself  that  now  he  would  get  rid  of 
these  Gibeonites  without  trouble  on  his  part.  But  the 
same  generosity  that  had  refused  to  take  advantage  of 
their  fraud  when  it  was  detected  showed  itself  in  this 
their  tim.e  of  need.  Joshua  was  encamped  at  Gilgal 
on  the  banks  of  the  Jordan  ;  for  the  arguments  that 
suppose  him  to  have  been  at  another  Gilgal  are  not 
consistent  with  the  terms  used  in  the  narrative  (e.g.y 
ver.  9,  *'  went  up  from  Gilgal  all  night  ").  From  Gilgal 
to  Gibeon  the  distance  is  upwards  of  twenty  miles,  and 
a  great  part  of  the  v/ay  is  steep  and  difficult. 

Encoura.ged  by  the  assurance  of  Divine  protection 
and  favoured  by  the  moonlight,  Joshua,  by  a  marvellous 
act  of  pluck  and  energy,  went  up  by  night,  reached 
Gibeon  in  the  morning,  fell  upon  the  army  of  the 
assembled  kings,  possibly  while  it  was  yet  dark,  and 
utterly  discomfited  them.  It  would  have  been  natural 
for  the  routed  armies  to  make  for  Jerusalem,  only  five 
miles  off,  by  the  south  road,  but  either  Joshua  had 
occupied  that  road,  or  it  was  too  difficult  for  a  retreat. 
The  way  by  which  they  did  retreat,  running  v/est  from 
Gibeon,  is  carefully  described.  First  they  took  the  way 
"  that  goeth  up  to  Bethhoron."     As  soon  as  they  had 

15 


226  THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 


traversed  the  plain  of  Gibeon,  they  ascended  a  gentle 
slope  leading  towards  Bethhoron  the  upper,  then  fled 
down  the  well-known  pass,  through  the  two  Bethhorons, 
upper  and  nether,  making  for  Jarmuth,  Lachish,  and 
other  towns  at  the  bottom  of  the  hills.  In  the  course 
of  their  descent  a  hailstorm  overtook  them,  one  of  those 
terrific  storms  which  seem  hardly  credible  to  us,  but 
are  abundantly  authenticated  both  in  ancient  and  modern 
times,  and  "  they  which  died  with  hailstones  were  more 
than  they  whom  the  children  of  Israel  slew  with  the 
sword."  The  Israelites,  exhausted,  no  doubt,  with  their 
night  march  and  morning  exertions,  seem  to  have  been 
outstripped  by  the  flying  army,  and  in  this  way  to  have 
escaped  the  shower  of  hail.  By  the  time  the  five  kings, 
who  had  had  to  fly  on  foot,  reached  Makkedah  at  the 
foot  of  the  mountains,  they  were  unable  to  go  farther 
and  hid  themselves  in  a  cave.  As  Joshua  passed  he  was 
informed  of  this,  but,  unwilling  to  stop  the  pursuit  of 
the  fugitives,  he  ordered  large  stones  to  be  rolled  to  the 
door  of  the  cave,  locking  the  kings  up  as  it  were  in  a 
prison,  and  no  doubt  leaving  a  guard  in  charge.  Then, 
when  the  pursuit  had  been  carried  to  the  very  gates 
of  the  walled  cities,  he  returned  to  the  cave.  The  five 
kings  were  brought  out,  and  the  chiefs  of  the  Israelite 
army  put  their  feet  upon  their  necks.  The  kings  v/ere 
slain,  and  their  bodies  hanged  on  trees  till  the  evening. 
Thereafter  Joshua  attacked  the  chief  cities  of  the  con- 
federates, and  took  in  succession  Makkedah,  Libnah, 
Lachish,  Eglon,  Hebron,  and  Debir.  Nothing  is  said 
of  his  taking  Jerusalem  ;  indeed  it  appears  from  the 
after  history  that  the  stronghold  of  Jerusalem  on  Mount 
Zion  remained  in  Jebusite  hands  up  to  the  time  of  David. 
Many  of  the  inhabitants  were  able  to  escape  destruc- 
tion, but  substantially  Joshua  was  now  in  possession 


.]  THE  BATTLE  OF  BETHHORON.  227 


of  the  whole  southern  division  of  the  land,  from  the 
Jordan  on  the  east  to  the  borders  of  the  Philistines  on 
the  west,  and  from  Gibeon  on  the  north  to  the  wilder- 
ness on  the  south.  It  does  not  appear,  however, 
that  he  retained  full  possession  ;  while  he  was  occupied 
in  other  parts  of  the  country  the  people  returned  and 
occupied  their  cities.  The  clemency  of  Joshua  in  not 
destroying  the  inhabitants  proved  the  source  of  much 
future  trouble. 

In  all  the  subsequent  history  of  the  country,  the  victory 
of  Gibeon  was  looked  back  on,  and  justly,  as  one  of 
the  most  memorable  that  had  ever  been  known.  For 
promptitude,  dash,  and  daring  it  was  never  eclipsed  by 
any  event  of  the  kind  ;  while  the  strength  of  the  con- 
federate army,  the  completeness  of  its  defeat,  and  the 
picturesqueness  of  the  whole  situation  constantly  sup- 
plied materials  for  wonder  and  delight.  Moreover,  the 
hand  of  God  had  been  conspicuous^  shown  in  more 
ways  than  one.  The  hailstorm  that  wrought  such 
havoc  was  ascribed  to  His  friendly  hand,  but  a  far 
more  memorable  token  of  His  interest  and  support  lay 
in  the  miracle  that  arrested  the  movements  of  the  sun 
and  the  moon,  in  order  that  victorious  Israel  might  have 
time  to  finish  his  work.  And  after  the  victory  the 
capture  of  the  fortified  towns  became  comparatively 
easy.  The  remnant  that  had  escaped  could  have  no 
heart  to  defend  them,  Joshua  must  have  smiled  at  the 
fate  of  the  ''  cities  walled  up  to  heaven  "  that  had  so 
greatly  distressed  his  brother  spies  when  they  came  up 
to  examine  the  land.  And  as  he  found  them  one  by 
one  yield  to  his  army,  as  though  their  defence  had 
really  departed  from  them,  he  must  have  felt  with  fresh 
gratitude  the  faithfulness  and  lovingkindness  of  the 
Lord,  and  earnestly  breathed   the  prayer  that  neither 


228  THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 


his  faith  nor  that  of  his  people  might  ever  fail  until  the 
whole  campaign  was  brought  to  an  end. 

In  some  respects  this  victory  had  a  special  signi- 
ficance. In  the  first  place,  it  had  a  most  important 
bearing  on  the  success  of  the  w^hole  enterprise  ;  its 
suddenness,  its  completeness,  its  manifold  grandeur 
being  admirably  fitted  to  paralyse  the  enemy  in  other 
parts  of  the  country,  and  open  the  whole  region  to 
Joshua.  By  some  it  has  been  compared  to  the  battle 
of  Marathon,  not  only  on  account  of  the  suddenness 
with  which  the  decisive  blow  was  struck,  but  also  on 
account  of  the  importance  of  the  interests  involved. 
It  was  a  battle  for  freedom,  for  purity,  for  true  religion, 
in  opposition  to  tyranny,  idolatry,  and  abominable 
sensuality ;  for  all  that  is  wholesome  in  human  life, 
in  opposition  to  all  that  is  corrupt ;  for  all  that  makes 
for  peaceful  progress,  in  opposition  to  all  that  entails 
degradation  and  misery.  The  prospects  of  the  whole 
world  were  brighter  after  that  victory  of  Bethhoron.  The 
relation  of  heaven  to  earth  was  more  auspicious,  and 
more  full  of  promise  for  the  days  to  come.  Had  any 
hitch  occurred  in  the  arrangements ;  had  Israel  halted 
half-way  up  the  eastern  slopes,  and  the  troops  of  Adoni- 
zedec  driven  them  back  ;  had  the  tug  of  war  in  the  plain 
of  Gibeon  proved  too  much  for  them  after  their  toilsome 
night  march ;  had  no  hailstorm  broken  out  on  the 
retreating  enemy ;  had  he  been  able  to  form  again  at 
the  western  foot  of  the  hills  and  arrest  the  progress  of 
Joshua  in  pursuit,  the  whole  enterprise  would  have  had 
a  different  complexion.  No  doubt  the  Divine  arm 
might  have  been  stretched  out  for  Israel  in  some  other 
way ;  but  the  remarkable  thing  was,  that  no  such 
supplementary  mode  of  achieving  the  desired  result 
was  required.     At  every  point  the  success  of  Israel  was 


,]  THE  BATTLE  OF  BETHHORON.  229 


complete,  and  every  obstacle  opposed  to  him  by  the 
enemy  was  swept  away  for  the  time  being  as  smoke 
before  the  wind. 

In  the  next  place,  the  tokens  of  Divine  aid  were  very 
impressive.  After  the  experience  which  Joshua  had 
had  of  the  consequences  of  faiUng  to  ask  God  for 
direction  when  first  the  Gibeonites  came  to  him,  we 
may  be  very  sure  that  on  the  present  occasion  he 
would  be  peculiarly  careful  to  seek  Divine  counsel. 
And  he  was  well  rewarded.  For  *'  the  sun  stood  still, 
and  the  moon  stayed,  until  the  people  had  avenged 
themselves  upon  their  enemies."  It  does  not  need  to 
be  said  that  this  miraculous  incident  has  from  first  to 
last  given  birth  to  an  immensity  of  perplexity  and 
discussion.  It  will  be  observed  that  the  record  of  it 
does  not  come  in  as  part  of  the  narrative,  but  as  a 
quotation  from  a  pre-existing  book.  Concerning  that 
book  we  know  very  little.  From  its  name,  Jashar, 
''  The  upright,"  we  may  believe  it  to  have  been  a  record 
of  memorable  deeds  of  righteous  men.  In  form  it  was 
poetical,  the  extract  in  the  present  case  being  of  that 
rhythmical  structure  which  Vv^as  the  mark  of  Hebrew 
poetry.  The  only  other  occasion  on  v/hich  it  is 
mentioned  is  in  connection  with  the  song  composed  b}^ 
David,  after  the  death  of  Saul  and  Jonathan  (2  Sam. 
i.  18).  ''  David  "  (as  the  Revised  Version  puts  it)  ''  bade 
them  teach  the  children  of  Israel  the  song  of  the 
bow  ;  behold,  it  is  written  in  the  book  of  Jashar."  As 
to  the  origin  and  nature  of  this  book  v/e  can  only  con- 
jecture. It  may  have  been  a  public  record,  contributed 
to  from  time  to  time  by  various  writers,  under  conditions 
and  arrangements  which  at  this  distance  of  time,  and 
under  the  obscurity  of  the  whole  subject,  we  cannot 
ascertain. 


230  THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 


Then  as  to  the  miracle  of  the  sun  and  the  moon 
standing  still.  It  is  well  known  that  this  was  one  of 
the  passages  brought  forward  by  the  Church  of  Rome 
to  condemn  Galileo,  when  he  affirmed  that  the  earth 
and  the  moon  revolved  round  the  sun,  and  that  it  was 
not  the  motion  of  the  sun  round  the  earth,  but  the 
rotation  of  the  earth  on  her  own  axis  that  produced  the 
change  of  day  and  night.  No  one  would  dream  now  of 
making  use  of  this  passage  for  any  such  purpose.  What- 
ever theory  of  inspiration  men  may  hold,  it  is  admitted 
universally  that  the  inspired  writers  used  the  popular 
language  of  the  day  in  matters  of  science,  and  did  not 
anticipate  discoveries  which  were  not  made  till  many 
centuries  later.  That  expressions  occur  in  Scripture 
which  are  not  in  accord  with  the  best  established 
conclusions  of  modern  science  would  never  be  regarded 
by  any  intelligent  person  as  an  argument  against  the 
Scriptures  as  the  inspired  records  of  God's  will,  designed 
especially  to  reveal  to  us  the  way  of  life  and  salvation 
through  Jesus  Christ,  and  to  be  an  infallible  guide  to 
us  on  all  that  ''  man  is  to  believe  concerning  God,  and 
the  duty  that  God  requires  of  man." 

A  far  more  serious  question  has  been  raised  as  to 
whether  this  miracle  ever  occurred,  or  could  have 
occurred.  To  those  who  believe  in  the  possibility  of 
miracles,  it  can  be  no  conclusive  argument  that  it  could 
not  have  occurred  without  producing  injurious  conse- 
quences the  end  of  which  can  hardly  be  conceived.  For 
if  the  rotation  of  the  earth  on  its  axis  was  suddenly 
arrested,  all  human  beings  on  its  surface,  and  all  loose 
objects  whatever  must  have  been  flung  forward  with  pro- 
digious violence  ;  just  as,  on  a  small  scale,  on  the  sudden 
stoppage  of  a  carriage,  we  find  ourselves  thrown  forward, 
the  motion  of  the  carriage  having  been   communicated 


X.]  THE  BATTLE  OF  BETHHORON.  231 


to  our  bodies.  But  really  this  is  a  paltry  objection  ; 
for  surely  the  Divine  power  that  can  control  the  rotation 
of  the  earth  is  abundantly  able  to  obviate  such  effects 
as  these.  We  can  understand  the  objection  that  God, 
having  adjusted  all  the  forces  of  nature,  leaves  them 
to  operate  by  themselves  in  a  uniform  way  without 
disturbance  or  interference ;  but  we  can  hardly  com- 
prehend the  reasonableness  of  the  position  that  if  it 
is  His  pleasure  miraculously  to  modify  one  arrangement, 
he  is  unable  to  adjust  all  relative  arrangements,  and 
make  all  conspire  harmoniously  to  the  end  desired. 

But  was  it  a  miracle  ?  The  narrative,  as  we  have 
it,  implies  not  only  that  it  was,  but  that  there  was 
something  in  it  stupendous  and  unprecedented.  It 
comes  in  as  a  part  of  that  supernatural  process  in 
which  God  had  been  engaged  ever  since  the  deliverance 
of  His  people  from  Egypt,  and  which  was  to  go  on  till 
they  should  be  finally  settled  in  the  land.  It  naturally 
joins  on  to  the  miraculous  division  of  the  Jordan,  and 
the  miraculous  fall  of  the  walls  of  Jericho.  We  must 
remember  that  the  work  in  which  God  was  now  engaged 
was  one  of  peculiar  spiritual  importance  and  significance. 
He  was  not  merely  finding  a  home  for  His  covenant 
people ;  He  was  making  arrangements  for  advancing 
the  highest  interests  of  humanity ;  He  was  guarding 
against  the  extinction  on  earth  of  the  Divine  light  which 
alone  could  guide  man  in  safety  through  the  life  that 
now  is,  and  in  preparation  for  that  which  is  to  come. 
He  was  taking  steps  to  prevent  a  final  and  fatal 
severance  of  the  relation  betv/een  God  and  man,  and 
He  was  even  preparing  the  way  for  a  far  more  complete 
and  glorious  development  of  that  relation — to  be  seen 
in  the  person  of  His  Incarnate  Son,  the  spiritual 
Joshua,  and  made  possible  for  men  through  that  great 


232  THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 


work  of  propitiation  which  He  was  to  accompHsh  on 
the  cross.  Who  will  take  upon  him  to  say  that  at  an 
important  crisis  in  the  progress  of  the  events  which 
were  to  prepare  the  way  for  this  grand  consummation, 
it  was  not  fitting  for  the  Almighty  to  suspend  for  a 
time  even  the  ordinances  of  heaven,  in  order  that  a  day's 
work,  carrying  such  vast  consequences,  might  not  be 
interrupted  before  its  triumphant  close  ? 

There  are  commentators  worthy  of  high  respect  who 
have  thought  that  the  fact  of  this  incident  being  noticed 
in  the  form  of  a  quotation  from  the  Book  of  Jashar 
somewhat  diminishes  the  credit  due  to  it.  It  looks  as 
if  it  had  not  formed  part  of  the  original  narrative,  but 
had  been  inserted  by  a  subsequent  editor  from  a  book 
of  poetry,  expressed  with  poetic  licence,  and  perhaps 
of  later  date.  They  are  disposed  to  regard  the  words 
of  Joshua,  "  Sun,  stand  thou  still  upon  Gibeon  ;  and 
thou.  Moon,  in  the  valley  of  Ajalon,"  as  a  mere  expres- 
sion of  his  desire  that  the  light  would  last  long  enough 
to  allow  the  decisive  work  of  the  day  to  be  brought 
to  a  thorough  conclusion.  They  look  on  it  as  akin  to 
the  prayer  of  Agamemnon  (''Iliad,"  ii.  412  sq.)  that  the 
sun  might  not  go  down  till  he  had  sacked  Troy  ;  and 
the  form  of  words  they  consider  to  be  suited  to  poetical 
composition,  like  some  of  the  expressions  in  the 
eighteenth  psalm — *'  There  went  up  a  smoke  out  of  His 
nostrils,  and  fire  out  of  His  mouth  devoured  :  coals 
were  kindled  by  it.  He  bowed  the  heavens  also,  and 
did  come  down  :  He  rode  upon  a  cherub,  and  did  fly." 

But  v/hatever  allowance  we  may  make  for  poetical 
licence  of  speech,  it  is  hardly  possible  not  to  perceive 
that  the  words  as  they  stand  imply  a  miracle  of  extra- 
ordinary sublimity  ;  nor  do  we  see  any  sufficient  ground 
for  resisting  the  common  belief  that  in  whatsoever  way 


X.]  THE  BATTLE  OF  BETHHORON.  233 


it  was  effected,  there  was  a  supernatural  extension  ot 
the  period  of  Hght,  to  allow  Joshua  to  finish  his  work.^ 
One  other  notable  feature  in  the  transaction  of  this 
day  was  the   completeness  of   the   defeat   inflicted   by 
Joshua  on  the  enemy.     This  defeat  went  on  in  succes- 
sive stages  from  early  morning  till  late  at  night.     First, 
there  was  the  slaughter  in  the  plain  of  Gibeon.     Then 
the  havoc  produced  by  the  hail  and  by  Joshua  on  the  re- 
treating army.     Then  the  destruction  caused  as  Joshua 
followed    the  enemy    to    their    cities.     /And   the  work 
of  the    day  was   wound  up  by  the   execution  of   the 
five  kings.     Moreover,  there  followed  a   succession  of 
similar  scenes  at  the  taking  and  sacking  of  their  cities. 
When    we   try    to    realize    all    this   in    detail,   we   are 
confronted  with  a  terrible   scene  of  blood  and   death, 
and  possibly  we  may  find  ourselves  asking,  Was  there 
a  particle  of  humanity  in  Joshua,  that  he  was  capable 
of  such   a   series  of   transactions  ?     Certainly  Joshua 
was  a  great  soldier,  and  a  great  religious  soldier,  but 
he  was  in  many  ways  like   his  time.      He   had  many 
of  the  qualities  of   Oriental  commanders,  and   one  of 
these  qualities  has  ever  been  to  carry  slaughter  to  the 
utmost  limit  that  the  occasion  allows.     His  treatment 
of  the  conquered  kings,   too,    was    marked  by  charac- 
teristic Oriental  barbarity,   for  he  caused  his  captains 
to  put  their  feet  upon  their  necks,  needlessly  embittering 

*  It  seems  hardly  necessary  to  notice  an  explanation  of  the  phe- 
nomenon that  has  been  made  lately — to  the  effect  that  it  was  in  the 
morning,  not  the  evening  of  the  day,  that  Joshua  expressed  his  wish. 
It  was  to  prevent  the  allied  kings  about  Gibeon  knowing  of  his 
approach  that  he  desired  the  sun  to  delay  his  rising  in  the  east,  a 
desire  which  was  virtually  fulfilled  by  that  dark,  cloudy  condition  of 
the  sky  which  precedes  a  thunderstorm.  The  natural  sense  of  the 
narrative  admits  neither  of  this  explanation  of  the  time  nor  of  the 
miracle  itself. 


234  THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 

their  dying  moments,  and  he  exposed  their  dead  bodies 
to  the  needless  humiHation  of  being  hanged  on  a  tree. 
But  it  must  be  said,  and  said  firmly  for  Joshua,  that 
there  is  no  evidence  of  his  acting  on  this  or  on  other 
such  occasions  in  order  to  gratify  personal  feelings ; 
it  was  not  done  either  to  gratify  a  thirst  for  blood, 
or  to  gratify  the  pride  of  a  conqueror.  Joshua  all 
through  gives  us  the  impression  of  a  man  carrying 
out  the  will  of  another ;  inflicting  a  judicial  sentence, 
and  inflicting  it  thoroughly  at  the  first  so  that  there 
might  be  no  need  for  a  constant  series  of  petty 
executions  afterwards.  This  certainly  was  his  aim  ; 
but  the  enemy  showed  themselves  more  vital  than  he 
had  supposed. 

And  when  we  turn  to  ourselves  and  think  what 
we  may  learn  from  this  transaction,  we  see  a  valuable 
application  of  his  method  to  the  spiritual  warfare. 
God  has  enemies  still,  within  and  without,  with  whom 
we  are  called  to  contend.  '*  For  we  wrestle  not  against 
flesh  and  blood,  but  against  principalities  and  powers, 
against  the  rulers  of  the  darkness  of  this  world,  against 
spiritual  wickedness  in  high  places."  When  we  are 
fighting  with  the  enemy  within  our  own  hearts  leniency 
is  our  great  temptation,  but  at  the  same  time  our 
greatest  snare.  What  we  need  here  is,  courage  to  slay. 
We  content  ourselves  with  confessions  and  regrets, 
but  the  enemy  lives,  returns  to  the  attack,  and  keeps 
us  in  perpetual  discomfort.  Oh  that  in  this  battle  we 
resembled  Joshua,  aiming  at  killing  the  enemy  outright, 
and  leaving  nothing  belonging  to  him  that  breathes  I 

And  in  reference  to  the  outside  world,  want  of 
thoroughness  in  warfare  is  still  our  besetting  sin. 
We  play  at  missions  ;  we  trifle  with  the  awful  drunken- 
ness  and  sensuality  around  us ;  we  look  on,  and  we 


X.]  THE  BATTLE   OF  BETHHORON.  235 

see  rural  districts  gradually  depopulated ;  and  we  wring 
our  hands  at  the  mass  of  poverty,  vice,  and  misery 
in  our  great  crowded  cities.  How  rare  is  it  for  any 
one  to  arise  among  us  like  General  Booth,  to  face 
prevailing  evils  in  all  their  magnitude,  and  even  attempt 
to  do  battle  with  them  along  the  whole  line  !  Why 
should  not  such  a  spirit  be  universal  in  the  Christian 
Church  ?  Who  can  tell  the  evil  done  by  want  of  faith, 
by  languor,  by  unwillingness  to  be  disturbed  in  our 
quiet,  self-indulged  life,  by  our  fear  of  rousing  against 
us  the  scorn  and  rage  of  the  world  ?  If  only  the 
Church  had  more  faith,  and,  as  the  fruit  of  faith,  more 
courage  and  more  enterprise,  what  help  from  heaven 
might  not  come  to  her  !  True,  she  would  not  see  the 
enemy  crushed  by  hailstones,  nor  the  sun  standing 
in  Gibeon,  nor  the  moon  in  the  valley  of  Ajalon  ;  but 
she  would  see  grander  sights ;  she  would  see  men 
of  spiritual  might  raised  up  in  her  ranks ;  she  would 
see  tides  of  strong  spiritual  influence  overwhelming 
her  enemies.  Jerichos  dismantled,  Ais  captured,  and 
the  champions  of  evil  falling  like  Lucifer  from  heaven  to 
make  way  for  the  King  of  kings  and  Lord  of  lords. 
Let  us  go  to  the  cross  of  Jesus  to  revive  our  faith 
and  recruit  our  energies.  The  Captain  of  our  salvation 
has  not  only  achieved  salvation  for  us,  but  He  has 
set  us  a  blessed  example  of  the  spirit  and  life  of  true 
Christian   warriors. 

"At  the  Name  of  Jesus 

Satan's  legions  flee  ; 
On  then,  Christian  soldiers, 

On  to  victory. 
Hell's  foundations  quiver 

At  the  shout  of  praise; 
Brothers,  lift  j'our  voices, 

Loud  your  anthems  raise  ! 


CHAPTER    XX. 

THE   BATTLE    OF   MEROM. 
Joshua  xi.,  xii. 

THERE  is  some  appearance  of  confusion  in  the 
terms  in  which  the  great  confederacy  of  native 
princes  against  Israel  is  brought  in.  In  the  beginning 
of  the  ninth  chapter,  a  combination  that  embraced 
the  whole  country,  north  and  south,  east  and  west,  is 
described  as  gathered  together  to  fight  with  Joshua 
and  with  Israel.  Nothing  more  is  said  till  after  the 
treaty  with  the  Gibeonites,  when  five  of  these  con- 
federate kings  residing  in  the  south  not  far  from 
Gibeon  muster  their  forces  to  besiege  that  city.  Of 
the  utter  rout  and  ruin  of  these  five  kings  and  of 
some  of  their  neighbours  we  have  just  been  reading. 
And  now  we  read  that,  after  these  things,  Jabin,  King 
of  Hazor,  sent  to  his  neighbours,  and  to  all  the  princes 
in  the  northern  part  of  the  country,  and  organized  a 
combined  movement  against  Israel,  for  which  the 
appointed  rendezvous  was  at  the  waters  of  Merom,  in 
the  extreme  north  of  the  country.  The  statement  at 
the  beginning  of  the  ninth  chapter  that  the  confederates 
*'  gathered  themselves  together,"  seems  to  be  made 
proleptically  ;  the  actual  gathering  together  not  having 
taken  place  till  the  occasions  specified  in  the  tenth  and 
eleventh  chapters  respectively.     The  plan  of  the  con- 

236 


xi.,xii.]  THE  BATTLE  OF  MEROM.  237 


federacy  Vv'as  no  doubt  formed  soon  after  the  fall  of 
Jericho  and  Ai,  and  the  arrangements  for  a  vast  united 
movement  began  to  be  made  then.  But  it  would  neces- 
sarily consume  a  considerable  time  to  bring  so  vast  a 
host  together.  Meanvs^hile,  another  event  had  taken 
place.  l"he  Gibeonitcs  had  refused  to  join  the  con- 
federacy and  had  made  peace  with  Joshua.  Their 
neighbours  were  intensely  provoked,  especially  Adoni- 
zedec  of  Jerusalem.,  and  without  waiting  for  the  general 
movement  proceeded  at  once  to  chastise  their  treachery. 
As  we  have  said  already,  they  doubtless  thought  it 
would  be  an  easy  task.  To  the  surprise  of  them 
all,  Joshua,  with  an  activity  which  they  could  not 
have  looked  for,  hastened  to  the  relief  of  Gibeon,  and 
inflicted  a  defeat  on  the  confederates  which  amounted 
to  absolute  ruin. 

It  has  not  been  generally  noticed  how  remarkably 
the  Gibeonite  fraud,  and  the  honourable  action  of 
Joshua  in  connection  with  it,  tended  in  the  end  to  the 
good  of  Israel.  Had  Joshua,  after  the  discovery  of 
the  fraud,  repudiated  his  treaty  and  attacked  and  exter- 
minated the  Gibeonites,  or  had  he  disregarded  their 
appeal  to  him  for  help  and  suffered  them  to  be  crushed 
by  Adonizedec,  there  v/ould  have  been  nothing  to 
hinder  the  southern  kings  from  uniting  with  the 
northern,  and  thus  presenting  to  Joshua  the  most 
formidable  opposition  that  was  ever  mustered  in  defence 
of  a  country.  The  magnificent  exploit  of  Joshua  in 
the  plain  of  Gibeon,  down  the  pass  of  Bethhoron,  and . 
in  the  valley  of  Ajalon  entirely  frustrated  any  such 
arrangement.  The  armies  of  the  southern  kings  were 
destroyed  or  demoraUzed.  And  though  the  united 
forces  in  the  north,  with  their  vast  resources  of  war, 
still  formed  a  most  formidable  opponent,  the  case  v/ould 


238  THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 

have  been  very  different  if  the  two  had  combined,  or  if 
one  of  them  had  hung  on  Joshua's  rear  while  he  was 
engaged  in  front  with  the  other.  Nothing  could  have 
fallen  out  more  for  the  advantage  of  Israel  than  the  pro- 
cedure of  the  Gibeonites,  which  drew  off  so  large  and 
powerful  a  section  of  the  confederates,  and  exposed 
them  thus  separate  to  the  sword  of  Joshua. 

Joshua  was  not  allowed  a  long  rest  at  Gilgal  after 
his  dealings  with  Adonizedec  and  his  brethren.  No 
doubt  the  news  of  that  tremendous  disaster  would 
quicken  the  energies  of  the  northern  kings.  The  head 
of  the  new  conspiracy  was  Jabin,  King  of  Hazor.  Jabin 
was  evidently  an  official  name  borne  by  the  chief  ruler 
of  Hazor,  like  Pharaoh  in  Egypt,  for  when,  at  a  subse- 
quent period,  the  place  has  recovered  somewhat  of  its 
importance,  and  comes  again  into  view  as  a  Canaanite 
capital,  Jabin  is  again  the  name  of  its  chief  ruler 
(Judg.  iv.   2). 

The  situation  of  Hazor  has  been  disputed  by  geo- 
graphers, and  Robinson,  who  is  usually  so  accurate, 
differs  from  other  authorities.  He  assigns  it  to  a 
ruinous  city  on  a  hill  called  Tell  Khuraibeh,  overhang- 
ing the  Lake  Merom,  for  little  other  reason  than  that  it 
seems  to  answer  the  conditions  of  the  various  narratives 
where  Hazor  is  introduced.  On  the  other  hand,  the 
author  of  "  The  Land  and  the  Book "  assigns  it  to  a 
place  still  called  Hazere,  a  little  west  of  Merom,  the 
remains  of  which  lie  in  a  large  natural  basin,  and 
spread  far  up  the  hill,  toward  the  south.  '*  Heaps  of 
hewn  stone,  old  and  rotten  ;  open  pits,  deep  wells,  and 
vast  cisterns  cut  in  the  solid  rock — these  are  the  un- 
equivocal indications  of  an  important  city I  inquired 

of  an  old  sheikh  what  saint  was  honoured  there.     In 
a  voice  loud  and  bold,  as  if  to  make  a  doubtful  point 


xi.,  xii.]  THE  BATTLE  OF  MEROM.  239 

certain,  he  replied,  Neby  Hazur,  who  fought  with 
Yeshua  Ibn  Nun."  The  matter  is  of  no  great  moment ; 
all  that  it  is  important  to  know  is  that  Hazor  was 
situated  near  Lake  Merom,  and  was  the  capital  of  a 
pow^erful  kingdom. 

The  cities  of  some  of  the  other  confederates  are 
named,  but  it  is  not  easy  to  identify  them  all.  The 
sites  of  Madon,  Shimron,  and  Achshaph,  are  unknown, 
but  they  were  apparently  not  far  from  Hazor.  ''The 
Arabah  south  of  Chinneroth  "  (ver.  2,  R.V.)  denotes  the 
plain  of  Jordan  south  of  the  lake  of  Galilee ;  the  valley, 
or  'Mowland  "  (R.V.),  denotes  the  maritime  plain  from 
the  Philistines  northward ;  *'  the  heights  of  Dor  on 
the  west"  (R.V.),  or  Highlands  of  Dor  (''Speaker's 
Commentary  "),  the  hills  about  a  city  on  the  sea  coast, 
near  the  foot  of  Carmel,  prominent  in  after  history, 
but  now  reduced  to  a  village  with  a  few  poor  houses. 
The  sacred  historian,  however,  does  not  attempt  to 
enumerate  all  the  places  from  which  the  confederacy 
v/as  drawn,  and  falls  back  on  the  old  comprehensive 
formula — "  Canaanites  on  the  east  and  on  the  west, 
Amorites,  Hittites,  the  Jebusites  in  the  hill  country, 
and  the  Hivite  under  Hermon  in  the  land  of  Mizpeh." 
"The  Canaanites  on  the  west"  embraced  the  people  of 
Zidon,  for  Joshua  is  expressly  stated  to  have  followed 
a  band  of  the  fugitives  to  that  city  (ver.  8).  The  muster 
must  have  been  an  extraordinary  one,  as  numerous 
"  as  the  sand  that  is  upon  the  sea  shore  in  multitude." 
Josephus  gives  the  numbers  as  300,000  footmen, 
10,000  horsemen,  and  20,000  chariots ;  but  we  can 
hardly  attach  much  value  to  his  figures.  "  Horses 
and  chariots  "  was  an  arm  unknown  to  the  Israelites, 
with  which  hitherto  they  had  never  contended.  This 
vast  host  came  together  and  pitched  at  the  waters  of 


240  THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 

Merom.  Merom,  now  called  Huleh,  is  the  little  lake 
where,  as  already  stated,  the  three  streamlets  that  form 
the  Jordan  unite.  It  varies  in  size  in  summer  and 
winter.  To  the  north,  a  large  plain  spreads  itself  out, 
sufficient  for  the  encampment  of  a  great  army.  It  was  at 
or  near  this  plain  that  Abraham  overtook  the  five  kings 
of  Mesopotamia  and  defeated  them,  rescuing  Lot,  and 
all  that  had  been  taken  from  Sodom  (Gen.  xiv.  14,  15). 
Now  again  it  is  crowded  with  a  maghty  host  :  far  as  the 
eye  can  reach,  the  plain  is  darkened  by  the  countless 
squadrons  of  the  enemy.  Probably,  after  mustering  here, 
their  intention  was  to  bear  down  the  Jordan  valley,  till 
they  came  on  Joshua  at  Gilgal,  or  such  other  place  as 
he  might  choose  to  meet  them.  But  if  this  was  their 
intention  they  were  outwitted  by  the  activity  and, 
intrepidity  of  Joshua,  who  resolved,  in  spite  of  their 
overwhelming  numbers,  to  take  the  aggressive ;  and, 
marching,  as  before,  with  extraordinary  rapidity,  to  fall 
on  them  by  surprise  and  throw  them  at  once  into  con- 
fusion so  that  they  should  be  unable  to  bring  their 
chariots  and  horses  into  the  action. 

It  was  a  very  serious  undertaking  for  Joshua,  and 
before  attempting  it  he  stood  much  in  need  of  the 
encouragement  of  Jehovah — "  Be  not  afraid  because  of 
them  :  for  to-morrow  about  this  time  will  I  deliver  them 
up  all  slain  before  Israel :  thou  shalt  hough  their  horses, 
and  burn  all  their  chariots  with  fire."  Not  on  the 
number  nor  on  the  bravery  of  his  own  people,  though 
they  had  stood  by  him  most  nobly,  was  he  to  place 
his  reliance,  but  on  the  power  of  God.  ''  Rule  thou  in 
the  midst  of  thine  enemies "  was  his  mot  d^ordre,  as 
it  was  afterwards  of  that  other  Joshua,  whose  battles 
were  not  with  confused  noise  nor  with  garments  rolled 
in  blood,  but  were  triumphs  of  truth  and  love.     Where 


xi.,xii.]  THE  BATTLE  OF  MEROM.  241 


else  should  the  true  warrior  be  found  but  in  the  midst  of 
his  enemies  ?  Joshua  knew  it,  and  with  the  promised 
help  of  God,  did  not  flinch  from  the  position,  though 
his  opponents  were  like  the  sand  of  the  seaside,  with 
a  corresponding  multitude  of  chariots  and  horses. 
Jesus,  too,  knew  it,  and  resting  on  the  same  promise 
did  not  shrink  from  the  conflict  in  His  own  person  ; 
nor  did  He  hesitate  to  send  His  apostles  into  all  the 
world  to  preach  the  gospel  to  every  creature,  and  look 
forward  to  a  victory  not  less  complete  than  that  of 
Joshua,  when  the  hordes  of  the  Canaanites  were 
scattered  before  him. 

**  To-morrow  about  this  time  will  I  deliver  them  up 
all  slain  before  Israel."  When  he  got  that  assurance, 
Joshua  must  already  have  left  Gilgal  some  days  before, 
and  was  now  within  a  moderate  distance  of  Merom. 
There  was  to  be  no  delay  in  the  completing  of  the  enter- 
prise. ''  To-morrow  about  this  time."  Though,  a.s  a  rule, 
the  mills  of  God  grind  slowly,  there  are  times  when  their 
velocity  is  wonderfully  accelerated.  He  has  sometimes 
wonderful  to-morrows.  When  Hezekiah  was  gazing 
appalled  on  the  hosts  of  Sennacherib  as  they  lay  coiled 
round  Jerusalem,  God  had  a  *'  to-morrow  about  this 
time"  when  the  terror  would  be  exchanged  for  a  glorious 
relief.  When  the  apostles  met  in  the  upper  chamber, 
and  were  wondering  how  they  were  ever  to  conquer 
the  world  for  their  Master,  there  was  a  "  to-morrow " 
at  hand,  when  the  Spirit  was  to  *'  come  down  like  rain 
on  the  mown  grass,  and  like  showers  that  water  the 
earth."  When,  at  the  end  of  the  world,  iniquity  abounds 
and  faith  is  low,  and  scoffers  are  asking,  **  Where  is 
the  promise  of  His  coming?"  there  will  come  a  ''to- 
morrow about  this  time "  when  the  heavens  will  pass 
away  with  a  great  noise,  and  the  elements  shall  melt 

16 


242  THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 


with  fervent  heat,  the  earth  also  and  all  that  is  therein 
shall  be  destroyed.  Hold  on,  brave  Joshua,  for  a  little 
longer;  hold  on  too,  ye  soldiers  of  the  Lord  Jesus, 
though  all  the  powers  of  darkness  are  leagued  against 
you ;  hold  on,  ye  suffering  saints,  whose  days  of  pain 
and  nights  of  waking  are  such  a  weariness  to  your 
flesh;  the  glorious  ''to-morrow  "  may  be  at  hand  which 
is  to  end  your  troubles  and  bring  you  the  victory ! 

"We  expect  a  bright  to-morrow, 
All  will  be  well." 

And  all  was  well  with  Joshua.  Arriving  suddenly 
at  the  waters  of  Merom,  he  fell  on  the  mighty  host  of 
the  enemy,  who,  taken  by  surprise,  seem  not  to  have 
struck  one  blow,  but  to  have  been  seized  at  once  with 
that  panic  which  so  thoroughly  demoralizes  Eastern 
hordes,  and  to  have  fled  in  consternation.  In  three 
great  streams  the  fugitives  sought  their  homes.  One 
portion  made  for  Misrephothmaim  in  the  south-west, 
now,  it  is  thought,  represented  by  Musheirifeh  on  the 
north  border  of  the  plain  of  Acre  ;  another  struck  in 
a  north-easterly  direction  through  the  valley  of  the 
upper  Jordan,  or  east  of  Hermon  to  the  valley  of 
Mizpeh  ;  a  third,  passing  through  the  gorge  of  the 
Litany,  made  for  great  Zidon,  in  the  distant  north. 
Joshua  himself  would  seem  to  have  pursued  this  column 
of  fugitives,  and,  passing  over  a  rough  path  of  more 
than  forty  miles,  not  to  have  abandoned  them  till  they 
took  refuge  within  the  walls  of  Zidon.  If  he  had 
attacked  and  destroyed  that  stronghold,  it  might  have 
changed  for  the  better  much  of  the  future  history  of 
his  country  ;  for  the  Jezebels  and  Athaliahs  of  after 
days  were  among  the  worst  enemies  of  Israel.  But  he 
did  not  deem  himself  called  to  that  duty      It  seemed 


xi.,  xii.]  THE  BATTLE  OF  MEROM.  243 

more  urgent  that  he  should  demoHsh  Hazor,  the  capital 
of  the  confederacy  that  he  had  just  scattered.  So  ''he 
turned  back  and  took  Hazor,  and  smote  the  king 
thereof  with  the  sword  ;  for  Hazor  before  time  was  the 
head  of  all  those  kingdoms."  For  this  reason  Hazor 
was  treated  like  Jericho,  utterly  destroyed,  as  were  also 
the  other  cities  of  the  confederate  kings.  One  class  of 
cities  was  spared,  called  in  our  version  ''  the  cities  that 
stood  still  in  their  strength,"  but  better  in  the  Revised— 
^'the  cities  that  stood  on  their  mounds."  The  custom 
referred  to  is  that  of  building  cities  on  mounds  or 
hills  for  the  sake  of  protection.  With  the  exception 
of  Hazor,  none  of  these  were  destroyed.  The  reason 
probably  was,  that  it  would  have  cost  too  much  time. 
But  it  was  in  such  places  that  the  old  inhabitants  rallied 
and  entrenched  themselves,  and  from  them  they  were 
able  in  after  years  to  inflict  much  loss  and  give  great 
trouble  to  Israel.  Joshua,  however,  had  not  received 
instructions  to  destroy  them ;  they  were  left  to  serve 
a  purpose  in  God's  plan  of  discipline  (Judg.  ii.  3),  and 
while  Israel  was  often  humbled  under  them  their 
attacks  proved  occasions  of  rallying,  bringing  them 
back  to  God,  whose  worship  they  were  so  ready  to 
neglect. 

The  conquest  of  Western  Palestine  was  thus  virtually 
completed.  First,  by  taking  Jericho,  Joshua  had 
possessed  himself  of  the  Jordan  valley,  and  established 
a  clear  communication  with  Bashan  and  Gilead,  which 
the  two  and  a  half  tribes  had  received  for  their  inherit- 
ance. By  the  conquest  of  Ai  and  Bethel,  he  had  made 
a  way  to  the  great  plateau  of  Western  Palestine,  and  by 
his  treaty  with  the  Gibeonites  he  had  extended  his  hold 
a  considerable  way  farther  to  the  south  and  the  west. 
Then,    by    the    great   victory   of    Bethhoron,    he    had 


244  TH^  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 

crushed  the  southern  chiefs  and  possessed  himself, 
for  the  time  at  least,  of  all  that  quarter.  As  to  the 
inhabita.nts  of  the  central  part,  we  know  not  (as  we  have 
already  said)  how  they  were  dealt  with,  but  most  probably 
they  were  too  frightened  to  resist  him.     (See  p.  202). 

The  northern  section  had  been  subdued  at  Merom., 
and  much  crippled  through  the  pursuit  of  Joshua  after 
the  battle  there.  The  only  important  parts  of  the 
country  of  which  he  did  not  gain  possession  were  the 
land  of  the  Philistines,  the  strip  of  sea  coast  held  by 
Tyre  and  Zidon,  and  some  small  kingdoms  on  the 
north-east.  It  would  seem  that  in  the  instructions 
received  by  him  from  Moses,  these  w^ere  not  included, 
for  it  is  expressly  said  of  him  that  ^*he  left  nothing 
undone  of  all  that  the  Lord  commanded  Moses." 
Emphasis  is  laid  on  the  fact  that  his  conquests  were 
not  confined  to  one  section  or  denomination  of  territory, 
but  embraced  the  whole.  ''  Joshua  took  all  that  land, 
the  hill  countr}^,  and  all  the  South,  and  all  the  land  of 
Goshen,  and  the  lowland,  and  the  Arabah,  and  the  hill 
country  of  Israel,  and  the  lowland  of  the  same ;  from 
Mount  Halak  (or,  the  bare  mountain)  [on  the  south], 
that  goeth  up  to  Seir  [the  land  of  Edom],  even  unto 
Baalgad  in  the  valley  of  Lebanon  under  Mount 
Hermon  [in  the  north]  :  and  all  their  kings  he  took, 
and  smote  them,  and  put  them  to  death  "  (R.V.).  The 
"  Goshen "  here  spoken  of  cannot,  of  course,  be  the 
Egyptian  Goshen,  for  this  city  was  in  the  neighbour- 
hood of  Gibeon  (chap.  x.  41);  but  its  site  has  not 
been  identified. 

We  are  told  that  the  wars  of  Joshua  occupied  a 
long  time.  Probably  from  five  to  seven  years  were 
consumed  by  them,  for  though  the  pitched  battles  of 
Bethhoron  and  Merom  virtually  decided  the  mastership 


xi.,  xii.]  THE  BATTLE  OF  MEROM.  245 

of  the  country,  there  must  have  been  a  large  amount 
of  guerilla  warfare,  and  the  sieges  of  the  various 
cities  may  have  required  much  time.  The  list  of  kings 
subdued,  as  given  in  chap,  xii.,  is  a  remarkable 
document.  Granting  that  though  called  kings  they 
were  mostly  but  little  chieftains,  still  they  were  formid- 
able enough  to  a  pastoral  people  unused  to  the  pursuits 
of  war  ;  and  it  was  very  striking  that  not  one  of  them 
by  himself,  nor  all  of  them  combined,  were  equal  to 
Joshua.  If  Joshua  was  not  divinely  aided,  the  conquest 
of  all  these  chieftains  and  the  capture  of  their  cities 
is  the  most  inexplicable  event  in  history. 

Two  additional  statements  are  made  towards  the 
close  of  the  eleventh  chapter.  One  is,  that  with  the 
single  exception  of  Gibeon,  no  attempt  was  made  by 
any  of  the  chiefs  or  cities  to  make  peace  with  Joshua. 
"  For  it  was  of  the  Lord  to  harden  their  hearts  that 
they  should  come  against  Israel  in  battle,  that  he 
might  destroy  them  utterl}^,  and  that  they  might  have 
no  favour,  but  that  he  might  destroy  them,  as  the 
Lord  commanded  Moses."  It  would  have  been  very 
embarrassing  to  Joshua  if  they  had  submitted  spon- 
taneously, and  cast  themselves  on  his  generosity,  for  his 
orders  were  to  destroy  them.  But  this  difficulty  did  not 
arise.  None  of  the  cities  seem  to  have  shared  the 
conviction  of  the  Gibeonites  that  opposition  was  need- 
less, that  Israel  was  sure  to  prevail,  and  get  possession 
of  the  country.  When  men's  backs  are  up,  to  use  a 
common  phrase,  they  Vv^ill  do  wonders  in  the  way  of 
facing  danger  and  enduring  suffering.  Even  the  re- 
sistance of  the  martyrs  cannot  be  wholly  ascribed  to 
holy  faith  and  loyalty  to  God  ;  in  many  cases,  no  doubt, 
something  was  due  to  that  dogged  spirit  that  won't 
submit,  that  won't  be  beat,  that  will  endure  incredible 


246  THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 

privation  rather  than  give  in.  The  effect  of  this  resist- 
ance by  the  Canaanites  was,  that  while  Joshua's  task 
was  increased  in  one  wa}^,  it  was  simphfied  in  another. 
Ages  before,  God  had  given  the  country  to  the  fathers 
of  the  Hebrew  nation.  That  people  now  came  and 
demanded  in  God's  name  possession  of  the  land  which  He 
had  given  them.  Had  the  nations  submitted  voluntaril}'^ 
they  must  have  left  the  country  to  seek  new  settlements 
elsewhere.  By  resisting,  they  compelled  Joshua  to 
meet  them  with  the  sword  ;  and  having  resisted  Israel 
with  all  their  might,  nothing  remained  but  that  they 
should  encounter  the  doom  which  they  had  so  fiercely 
provoked. 

That  some  of  the  Canaanites  did  leave  the  country 
seems  very  probable,  although  little  importance  is  to 
be  attached  to  the  statement  of  Procopius  that  after 
trying  Egypt  they  settled  in  Libya,  and  overspread 
Africa  as  far  as  the  Pillars  of  Hercules.  At  a  fortress 
in  Numidia  called  Tigisis  or  Tingis  he  says  that  so 
late  as  the  sixth  century  after  Christ  there  were  dis- 
covered near  a  great  wall  two  pillars  of  white  stone 
bearing,  in  Phoenician,  the  inscription,  **  We  are  those 
who  fled  before  the  robber  Jeshus,  son  of  Nane." 
Ewald  and  others  by  whom  this  tradition  is  noticed 
are  not  disposed,  owing  to  its  late  date,  to  attach  to  it 
any  weight. 

The  other  statement  relates  to  the  Anakim.  Some- 
time, not  precisely  defined,  while  engaged  in  his  conflicts 
Joshua  ''cut  oft'  the  Anakims  from  the  mountains, 
from  Hebron,  from  Debir,  from  Anab,  and  from  all 
the  mountains  of  Judah,  and  from  all  the  mountains  of 
Israel,"  leaving  none  of  them  except  in  Gaza,  in  Gath, 
and  in  Ashdod  (xi.  21).  Afterwards  it  is  said  (xv.  14) 
that  it  was   Caleb  that  drove  from  Hebron  the  three 


xi.,  xii.]  THE  BATTLE  OF  MEROM.  247 


sons  of  Anak,  Sheshai,  Ahiman,  and  Talmai ;  but  this 
cannot  be  counted  a  contradiction  inasmuch  as  ''  Joshua," 
being  the  leader  of  the  army,  must  be  held  to  repre- 
sent and  include  all  who  fought  in  connection  with  his 
enterprise.  These  Anakim  were  the  men  that  had  so 
terrified  the  ten  spies.  "  And  there  we  saw  the  giants, 
the  sons  of  Anak,  which  come  of  the  giants  :  and  we 
were  in  our  own  sight  as  grasshoppers,  and  so  we  were 
in  their  sight  "  (Num.  xiii.  '^'^).  To  men  of  little  faith, 
giants,  whether  physical  or  moral,  are  always  formidable. 
Kings,  with  the  resources  of  an  empire  at  their  back  ; 
generals^  at  the  head  of  mighty  battalions  ;  intellectual 
chiefs,  with  all  their  talent  and  brillianc}^,  their  wit, 
their  irony,  their  power  to  make  the  worse  appear  the 
better  reason,  are  more  than  a  match  for  the  obscure 
handfuls  to  whom  the  battles  of  the  faith  are  often  left. 
But  if  the  obscure  handfuls  are  allied  with  the  Lord  of 
hosts,  their  victory  is  sure  ;  the  triumphant  experience 
of  the  forty-sixth  psalm  awaits  them  :  '^  God  is  in  the 
midst  of  her,  she  shall  not  be  moved ;  God  shall  help 
her,  and  that  right  early." 

We  are  weary  of  the  din  of  arms,  and  come  at  last 
to  the  refreshing  statement  :  ''And  the  land  rested 
from  war."  The  annals  of  peace  are  always  more 
brief  than  the  records  of  war ;  and  when  we  reach  this 
short  but  welcome  clause  we  might  wish  that  it  were 
so  expanded  as  to  fill  our  eyes  and  our  hearts  with  the 
blessings  which  peace  scatters  with  her  kindly  hand. 
For  that  impression  we  need  only  to  turn  to  another  page 
of  our  Bible,  and  read  of  the  campaigns  of  another  Joshua. 
''  And  Jesus  went  about  all  Galilee,  teaching  in  their 
synagogues,  and  preaching  the  gospel  of  the  kingdom, 
and  healing  all  manner  of  sickness,  and  all  manner 
of  disease  among  the  people."     The  contrast   is  very 


248  THE  BOOK   OF  JOSHUA. 

glorious.  In  His  Galilee  journeys,  Jesus  traversed  the 
very  region  where  Joshua  had  drawn  his  sword  against 
the  confederate  kings.  Joshua  had  pursued  them  as 
far  as  Zidon,  leaving  marks  of  bloodshed  along  the 
whole  way ;  Jesus,  when  *'  He  departed  to  the  coasts 
of  Tyre  and  Sidon/'  went  to  reward  faith,  to  dispossess 
devils,  and  to  kindle  in  a  desolate  heart  thanksgiving 
and  joy.  Everyv/here,  throughout  all  Galilee  and  the 
regions  beyond,  His  advent  was  accompanied  with 
benedictions,  and  blessings  were  scattered  by  Him  in 
His  path. 

But  let  us  not  indulge  in  too  complete  a  contrast 
between  the  two  conquerors.  'Joshua's  rough  plough- 
share prepared  the  v/ay  for  Jesus'  words  of  mercy  and 
deeds  of  love.  God's  message  to  man  is  not  all  in 
honeyed  words.  Even  Jesus,  as  He  went  through 
Galilee,  proclaimed,  ''  Repent,  for  the  kingdom  of  heaven 
is -at  hand."  And  it  was  those  only  who  gave  heed 
to  the  call  to  repent  that  becamie  possessors  of  the 
kingdom. 


CHAPTER   XXL 

JOSHUA'S  OLD  AGE— DIVISION  FOR    THE  EASTERN 

TRIBES. 

Joshua  xiii.,  xiv.  i — 5. 

"'  I  "^HE  Lord  said  unto  Joshua,   Thou  art  old   and 

X     stricken  in  j^ears."     To  many  men  and  women 

this  would   not  be  a  welcome  announcement.      They 

do  not  like  to  think  that  they  are  old.     They  do  not 

like  to  think  that  the  bright,  joyous,  playful  part  of  life 

is  over,  and  that  they  are  arrived  at  the  sombre  years 

when  they  must  say,  ''There  is  no  pleasure  in  them." 

Then,  again,  there  are  some  who  really  find  it  hard  to 

believe   that    they   are    old.     Life    has    flown    past    so 

swiftly  that  befpre  they  thought  it  was  well   begun  it 

has  gone.     It  seems  so  short  a  time  since  they  were 

in   the  full   play  of  their  youthful  energies,  that  it  is 

hardly  credible    that    they   are    now  in    the   sere   and 

yellow  leaf      Perhaps,    too,   they  have    been    able   to 

keep  their  hearts  young  all  the  time,  and   still  retain 

that  buoyant   sensation    which    seems   to   indicate  the 

presence    of  youth.      And    are    there    not    some    who 

have  verified   the  psalm — *'  They  that   are   planted  in 

the  house  of  the  Lord  shall  flourish  in  the  courts  of' 

our  God.     They  shall  still  bring  forth  fruit  in  old  age, 

they  shall  be  fat  and  flourishing "  ? 

But  however  much  men  may  like  to  be  young,  and 

however   much   some    may  retain    in    old    age    of  the 

249 


250  THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 

feeling  of  youth,  it  is  certain  that  the  period  of  strength 
has  its  Hmit,  and  the  period  of  hfe  also.  To  the  halest 
and  heartiest,  if  he  be  not  cut  off  prematurely,  the  time 
must  come  when  God  will  say  to  him,  **Thou  art  old." 
It  is  a  solemn  word  to  hear  from  the  lips  of  God.  God 
tells  me  my  life  is  past ;  what  use  have  I  made  of  it  ? 
And  what  does  God  think  of  the  use  I  have  made  of 
it  ?  And  what  account  of  it  shall  I  be  able  to  give 
when  I  stand  at  His  bar? 

Let  the  young  think  well  of  this,    before  it  is   too 
late  to  learn  how  to  live. 

To  Joshua  the  announcement  that  he  was  old  and 
stricken  in  years  does  not  appear  to  have  brought  any 
painful  or  regretful  feeling.  Perhaps  he  had  aged 
somewhat  suddenly ;  his  energies  may  have  failed  con- 
sciously and  rapidly,  after  his  long  course  of  active 
and  anxious ;  military  service.  He  may  have  been  glad 
to  hear  God  utter  the  word ;  he  may  have  been  feeling 
it  himself,  and  wondering  how  he  should  be  able  to 
go  through  the  campaigns  yet  necessary  to  put  the 
children  of  Israel  in  full  possession  of  the  land.  That 
word  may  have  fallen  on  his  ear  with  the  happy  feeling — 
how  considerate  God  is !  He  will  not  burden  my  old 
age  with  a  load  not  suited  for  it.  Though  His  years 
have  no  end,  and  He  knows  nothing  of  failing  strength, 
^*  He  knoweth  our  frame.  He  remembereth  that  we 
are  dust."  He  will  not  "cast  me  off  in  the  time  of 
old  age,  nor  forsake  me  when  my  strength  faileth." 
Happy  confidence,  especially  for  the  aged  poor !  It 
is  the  want  of  trust  in  the  heavenly  Father  that  makes 
so  many  miserable  in  old  age.  When  you  will  not 
believe  that  He  is  considerate  and  kind,  you  are  left 
to  your  own  resources,  and  often  to  destitution  and 
misery.     But  when  between  Him  and  you  there  is  the 


xiii.,xiv.  1-5.]  JOSHUA'S  OLD  AGE.  251 

happy  relation  of  father  and  child ;  when  through  Jesus 
Christ  you  realize  His  fatherly  love  and  pity,  and  in  real 
trust  cast  yourselves  on  Him  who  clothes  the  lilies  and 
feeds  the  ravens,  your  trust  is  sure  to  be  rewarded,  for 
your  heavenly  Father  knoweth  what  things  you  have 
need  of  before  you  ask  them. 

So  Joshua  finds  that  he  is  now  to  be  relieved  by 
his  considerate  Master  of  laborious  and  anxious  service. 
Not  of  all  service,  but  of  exhausting  sei^ice,  unsuited 
to  his  advancing  years.  Joshua  had  been  a  right 
faithful  servant ;  few  men  have  ever  done  their  work 
so  well.  From  that  day  when  he  stood  against  Amalek 
from  morning  to  night,  while  the  rod  of  Moses  was 
stretched  out  over  him  on  the  hill ;  thereafter,  during 
all  his  companionship  with  Moses  on  the  mount ;  next 
in  that  search-expedition  when  Caleb  and  he  stood  so 
firm,  and  did  not  flinch  in  the  face  of  the  congregation, 
though  every  one  was  for  stoning  them ;  and  now, 
from  the  siege  of  Jericho  to  the  victory  of  Merom,  and 
all  through  the  trying  and  perilous  sieges  of  city  after 
city,  year  after  year,  Joshua  has  proved  himself  the 
faithful  servant  of  God  and  the  devoted  friend  of  Israel. 
During  these  last  years  he  has  enjoyed  supreme  power, 
apparently  without  a  rival  and  without  a  foe ;  yet, 
strange  to  sa}^,  there  is  no  sign  of  his  having  been 
corrupted  by  power,  or  made  giddy  by  elevation.  He 
has  led  a  most  useful  and  loyal  life,  which  there  is 
some  satisfaction  in  looking  back  on.  No  doubt  he 
is  well  aware  of  unnumbered  failings :  "  Who  can 
understand  his  errors  ? "  But  he  has  the  rare  satis- 
faction— oh  I  who  would  not  wish  to  share  it  ? — of 
looking  back  on  a  well-spent  life,  habitually  and 
earnestly  regulated  amid  many  infirmities  by  regard  to 
the  will  of  God.     Neither  he,  nor  St.  Paul  after  him, 


252  THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 


had  any  trust  in  their  own  good  works,  as  a  basis  of 
salvation  ;  yet  Paul  could  say,  and  Joshua  might  have 
said  it  in  spirit :  *^  I  have  fought  the  good  fight,  I  have 
finished  my  course,  I  have  kept  the  faith :  henceforth 
there  is  laid  up  for  me  a  crown  of  righteousness." 

Yet  Joshua  was  not  to  complete  that  work  to  which 
he  had  contributed  so  much  :  '^  there  remaineth  yet  very 
much  land  to  be  possessed."  At  one  time,  no  doubt, 
he  thought  otherwise,  and  he  desired  otherwise.  When 
the  tide  of  victory  was  setting  in  for  him  so  steadily, 
and  region  after  region  of  the  land  was  falling  into  his 
hands,  it  was  natural  to  expect  that  before  he  ended 
he  would  sweep  all  the  enemies  of  Israel  before  him, 
and  open  every  door  for  them  throughout  the  land, 
even  to  its  utmost  borders.  Why  not  make  hay  when 
the  sun  shone  ?  When  God  had  found  so  apt  an 
instrument  for  His  great  design,  why  did  He  not 
employ  him  to  the  end  ?  If  the  natural  term  of  Joshua's 
strength  had  come,  why  did  not  that  God  who  had 
supernaturally  lengthened  out  the  day  for  completing 
the  victory  of  Bethhoron,  lengthen  out  Joshua's  day 
that  the  whole  land  of  Canaan  might  be  secured  ? 

Here  comes  in  a  great  mystery  of  Providence. 
Instead  of  lengthening  out  the  period  of  Joshua's 
strength,  God  seems  to  have  cut  it  short.  We  can 
easily  understand  the  lesson  for  Joshua  himself  It  is 
the  lesson  which  so  many  of  God's  servants  have  had 
to  learn.  They  start  with  the  idea  they  are  to  do 
everything  ;  they  are  to  reform  every  abuse,  overthrow 
every  stronghold  of  evil,  reduce  chaos  to  order  and 
beauty ;  as  if  each  were 

"  the  only  man  on  earth 
Responsible  for  all  the  thistles  blown 
And  tigers  couchant,  struggling  in  amaze 


xiii.,  xiv.  1-5.]  JOSHUA'S   OLD  AGE.  253 


Against  disease  and  winter,  snarling  on 
For  ever,  that  the  world's  not  paradise." 

Sooner  or  later  they  find  that  they  must  be  satisfied 
with  a  much  humbler  role.     They  must  learn  to 

"  be  content  in  work, 
To  do  the  thing  we  can,  and  not  presume 
To  fret  because  it's  little.     'Twill  employ 
Seven  men,  they  say,  to  make  a  perfect  pin,  .  .  . 
Seven  men  to  a  pin,  and  not  a  man  too  much  ! 
Seven  generations,  haply  to  this  world. 
To  right  it  visibly  a  finger's  breadth, 
And  mend  its  rents  a  little." 

Joshua  must  be  made  to  feel — perhaps  he  needs  this — 
that  this  enterprise  is  not  his,  but  God's.     And  God 
is  not  limited  to  one  instrument,  or  to  one  age,  or  to 
one   plan.     Never   does   Providence   appear  to    us    so 
strange,  as  when  a  noble  worker  is  cut  down  in  the 
very  midst  of  his  work.     A  young  missionary  has  just 
shown  his   splendid   capacity  for    service,   when  fever 
strikes  him  low,  and  in  a  few  days  all  that  remains  of  him 
is  rotting  in  the  ground.     What  can   God  mean  ?  we 
sometimes  ask  impatiently.     Does  Ke  not   know   the 
rare  value  and  the  extreme  scarcity  of  such  men,  that 
He  sets  them  up  apparently  just  to  throv/  them  down  ? 
But  **  God  reigneth,  let  the  people  tremble."     Ail  that 
bears  on  the  Christian  good  of  the  world  is  in  God's 
plan,  and  it  is  very  dear  to  God,  and   "  precious  in  the 
sight  of  the  Lord  is  the  death  of  His  saints."     But  He 
is  not  hmited  to  single  agents.     When  Stephen  died, 
He   raised  up  Saul.     For  V/iclifife    He    gave    Luther. 
When  George  Wishart  was  burnt  He  raised  up  John 
Knox.     Kings,  it  is  said,  die,  but  the  king  never.     The 
herald  that  announces  '^  The  king  is  dead,"  proclaims 
in   the   same   breath,   *'God    save    the   king  I "     God's 


254  THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 


workers  die,  but  His  work  goes  on.  Joshua  is  super- 
annuated, so  far  as  the  work  of  conquest  is  concerned, 
and  that  work  for  a  time  is  suspended.  But  the 
reason  is  that,  at  the  present  moment,  God  desires  to 
develop  the  courage  and  energy  of  each  particular  tribe. 
And  when  the  time  comes  to  extend  still  farther  the 
dominion  of  Israel,  an  agent  will  be  found  well  equipped 
for  the  service.  From  the  hills  of  Bethlehem,  a  godly 
youth  of  dauntless  bearing  will  one  day  emerge,  under 
whom  every  foe  to  Israel  shall  be  brought  low,  and 
from  the  river  of  Egypt  to  the  great  river,  the  river 
Euphrates,  the  entire  Promised  Land  shall  come  under 
Israel's  dominion.  And  the  conquests  of  David  will 
shine  with  a  brighter  lustre  than  Joshua's,  and  will  be 
set,  as  it  were,  to  music  of  a  higher  strain.  Associated 
with  David's  holy  songs  and  holy  experience,  and  with 
his  early  life  of  sadness  and  humiliation,  crowned  at  last 
with  glory  and  honour,  they  will  more  fitly  symbolize 
the  work  of  the  great  Joshua,  and  there  will  then  be 
diffused  over  the  world  a  more  holy  aroma  than  that  of 
Joshua's  conquests, — a  fragrance  sweet  and  refreshing  to 
souls  innumerable,  and  fostering  the  hope  of  glory, — the 
rest  that  remaineth  for  the  people  of  God,  the  inheritance 
incorruptible,  and  undefiled,  and  that  fadeth  not  away. 

So  Joshua  must  be  content  to  have  done  his  part, 
and  done  it  well,  although  he  did  not  conquer  all  the 
land,  and  there  yet  remained  much  to  be  possessed. 
Without  entering  in  detail  into  all  the  geographical 
notices  of  this  chapter,  it  will  be  well  to  note  briefly 
what  parts  of  the  country  were  still  unsubdued. 

First,  there  were  all  the  borders  of  the  Philistines, 
and  all  Geshuri ;  the  five  lords  of  the  Philistines, 
dwelling  in  Gaza,  Ashdod,  Ascalon,  Gath,  and  Ekron  ; 
and  also  the  Avites.     This  well  defined  country  con- 


xiii.,  xiv.  1-5-]  JOSHUA'S   OLD  AGE.  255 

sisted  mainly  of  a  plain  "  remarkable  in  all  ages  for 
the  extreme  riches  of  its  soil ;  its  fields  of  standing  corn, 
its  vineyards  and  oliveyards,  are  incidentally  mentioned 
in  Scripture  (Judg.  xv.  5)  ;  and  in  the  time  of  famine 
the  land  of  the  Philistines  was  the  hope  of  Palestine 
(2  Kings  viii.  2).  .  .  .  It  was  also  adapted  to  the  growth 
of  military  power ;  for  while  the  plain  itself  permitted 
the  use  of  war  chariots,  which  were  the  chief  arm  of 
offence,  the  occasional  elevations  which  rise  out  of  it 
offered  secure  sites  for  towns  and  strongholds.  It  was, 
moreover,  a  commercial  country ;  the  great  thorough- 
fare betw^een  Phoenicia  and  Syria  on  the  north  and 
Egypt  and  Arabia  on  the  south.  Ashdod  and  Gaza 
were  the  keys  of  Egypt,  and  commanded  the  transit 
trade,  and  the  stores  of  frankincense  and  myrrh  which 
Alexander  captured  in  the  latter  place  prove  it  to  have 
been  a  depot  of  Arabian  produce."^ 

Geshuri  lay  between  Philistia  and  the  desert,  and 
the  Avites  were  probably  some  remainder  of  the  Avims, 
from  whom  the  Philistines  conquered  the  land  (Deut. 
ii.   23). 

In  many  respects  it  would  have  been  a  great  boon 
for  the  Israelites  if  Joshua  had  conquered  a  people 
that  were  so  troublesome  to  them  as  the  Philistines 
were  for  many  a  day.  What  Joshua  left  undone, 
Saul  began,  but  failed  to  achieve,  and  at  last  David 
accomphshed.  The  Geshurites  were  subdued  with  the 
Amalekites  while  he  was  dwelling  at  Ziklag  as  an 
ally  of  the  Philistines  (i  Sam.  xxvii.  8),  and  the 
Philistines  themselves  were  brought  into  subjection, 
and  had  to  yield  to  Israel  many  of  their  cities  (i  Sam. 
vii.  14;  2  Sam.  viii.  i,  12). 


'  Smith's  "  Bible  Dictionary." 


256  THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 


Another  important  section  of  the  country  unsubdued 
was  the  Phoenician  territory — the  land  of  the  Sidonians 
(vv.  4,  6).  Also  the  hilly  country  across  Lebanon,  em- 
bracing the  valley  of  Coele-S3Tia,  and  apparently  the 
region  of  Mount  Carmel  (*'  from  Lebanon  unto  Misre- 
phothmaim,"  ver.  6,  and  comp.  chap.  xi.  8).  No  doubt 
much  of  this  district  was  recovered  in  the  time  of  the 
Judges,  and  still  more  in  the  time  of  David ;  but  David 
made  peace  with  the  King  of  Tyre,  who  still  retained 
the  rocky  strip  of  territory  that  was  so  useful  to  a 
commercial  nation,  but  would  have  been  almost  useless 
to  an  agricultural  people  like  the  Israelites. 

Joshua  was  not  called  on  to  conquer  these  territories 
in  the  sense  of  driving  out  all  the  old  inhabitants  ; 
but  he  was  instructed  to  divide  the  whole  land  among 
his  people — a  task  involving,  no  doubt,  its  own 
difficulties,  but  not  the  physical  labour  which  war 
entailed.  And  in  this  division  he  was  called  first  to 
recognise  what  had  already  been  done  by  Moses  with 
the  part  of  the  country  east  of  the  Jordan.  That  part 
had  been  allotted  to  Reuben,  Gad,  and  half  the  tribe  of 
Manasseh  ;  and  the  allotment  was  still  to  hold  good. 

It  is  remarkable  with  what  fulness  the  places  are 
described.  First,  we  have  the  boundaries  of  that  part 
of  the  country  generally  (vv.  9-12)  ;  then  of  the  allot- 
ments of  each  of  the  two  and  a  half  tribes  (vv.  15-31). 
With  regard  to  the  district  as  a  whole,  the  conquest 
under  Moses  was  manifestly  complete,  from  the  river 
Arnon  on  the  south,  to  the  borders  of  the  Geshurites 
and  Maachathites  on  the  north.  The  only  part  not 
subdued  were  the  territories  of  these  Geshurites  and 
Maachathites.  The  Geshurites  here  are  not  to  be  con- 
founded with  the  people  of  the  same  name  mentioned 
in  ver.  2,  who  were  at  the  opposite  extreme — the  south- 


xiii.,xiv.  1-5.]     DIVISION  FOR  THE  EASTERN  TRIBES.    257 

west  instead  of,  as  here,  the  north-east  of  the  land. 
But  no  doubt  the  Syrian  Geshurites  and  Maachathites 
were  brought  into  subjection  by  David,  with  all  the 
other  tribes  in  that  region,  in  his  great  Syrian  war, 
"  when  he  went  to  recover  his  border  at  the  river 
Euphrates  "  (2  Sam.  viii.  3).  But  instead  of  expelling 
or  exterminating  them,  David  seems  to  have  allowed 
them  to  remain  in  a  tributary  condition,  for  Geshur 
had  its  king  in  the  days  of  Absalom  (2  Sam.  xiii.  37), 
to  whom  that  prince  fled  after  the  murder  of  Amnon. 
With  the  Maachathites  also  David  had  a  family  con- 
nection (2  Sam.  iii.  3). 

But  though  the  subjugation  and  occupation  of  the 
eastern  part  of  the  land  was  thus  tolerably  complete 
(with  the  exceptions  just  mentioned),  it  remained  in 
the  undisturbed  possession  of  Israel  for  the  shortest 
time  of  any.  From  Moabites  and  Ammonites  on  the 
south,  Canaanites  and  Syrians  on  the  north  and  the 
east,  as  well  as  the  Midianites,  Amalekites,  and  other 
tribes  of  the  desert,  it  was  subject  to  continual  invasions. 
In  fact,  it  was  the  least  settled  and  least  comfortable 
part  of  all  the  country ;  and  doubtless  it  became  soon 
apparent  that  though  the  two  tribes  and  a  half  had 
seemed  to  be  very  fortunate  in  having  their  wish 
granted  to  settle  in  this  rich  and  beautiful  region,  yet  on 
the  whole  they  had  been  penny-wise  and  pound-foolish. 
Not  only  were  they  incessantly  assailed  and  worried 
by  their  neighbours,  but  they  were  the  first  to  be 
carried  into  captivity,  when  the  King  of  Assyria  directed 
his  eyes  to  Palestine.  They  had  shown  somewhat  of 
the  spirit  of  Lot,  and  they  suffered  somewhat  of  his 
punishment.  It  is  worthy  of  remark  that  even  at  this 
day  this  eastern  province  is  the  most  disturbed  part 
of  Palestine.     The  Bedouins  are  ever  liable  to  make 

17 


258  THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 

their  attacks  wherever  there  are  crops  or  cattle  to 
tempt  their  avarice.  People  will  not  sow  where  they 
have  no  chance  of  reaping ;  and  thus  it  is  that  much 
of  that  productive  region  lies  waste.  The  moral  is  not 
far  to  seek  :  in  securing  wealth,  look  not  merely  at  the 
apparent  productiveness  of  the  investment,  but  give 
heed  to  its  security,  its  stability.  It  is  not  all  gold 
that  glitters  either  on  the  stock-exchange  or  anywhere 
else.  And  even  that  which  is  real  gold  partakes  of  the 
current  instabihty.  We  must  come  back  to  our  Saviour's 
advice  to  investors,  if  we  would  really  be  safe  :  **  Lay 
not  up  for  yourselves  treasures  on  earth,  where  moth 
and  rust  do  corrupt,  and  where  thieves  break  through 
and  steal.  But  lay  up  for  yourselves  treasures  in 
heaven,  where  moth  and  rust  do  not  corrupt,  and  where 
thieves  do  not  break  through  nor  steal." 

The  specification  of  the  allotments  need  not  detain 
us  long.  Reuben's  was  the  farthest  south.  His 
southern  and  eastern  flanks  were  covered  by  the 
Moabites,  who  greatly  annoyed  him.  "  Unstable  as 
water,  he  did  not  excel."  Gad  settled  north  of  Reuben. 
In  his  lot  was  the  southern  part  of  Gilead ;  Mahanaim, 
and  Peniel,  celebrated  in  the  history  of  Jacob,  and 
Ramoth-gilead,  conspicuous  in  after  times.  East  of 
Gad  were  the  Ammonites,  who  proved  as  troublesome 
to  that  tribe  as  Moab  did  to  Reuben.  To  the  half- 
tribe  of  Manasseh  the  kingdom  of  Og  fell,  and  the 
northern  half  of  Gilead.  Jabesh-gilead,  where  Saul 
routed  the  Ammonites,  was  in  this  tribe  (i  Sara.  xi.). 
Here  also  were  some  of  the  places  on  the  lake  of 
Galilee  mentioned  in  the  gospel  history ;  here  the 
*'  desert  place "  across  the  sea  to  which  our  Lord 
used  to  retire  for  rest ;  here  He  fed  the  multitude  ; 
here    He  cured  the  demoniac ;   and    here  were  some 


xiii.,xiv.  1-5.]     DIVISION  FOR  THE  EASTERN  TRIBES.    259 


of  the  mountains  where  He  would  spend  the  night  in 
pra3^er. 

In  our  Lord's  time  this  portion  of  Palestine  was 
called  Perea.  Under  the  dominion  of  the  Romans,  it 
was  comparatively  tranquil,  and  our  Lord  would  some- 
times select  it,  on  account  of  its  quiet,  as  his  route  to 
Jerusalem.  And  many  of  His  gifts  of  love  and  mercy 
were  doubtless  scattered  over  its  surface. 

Two  statements  are  introduced  parenthetically  in 
this  chapter  which  hardly  belong  to  the  substance  of 
it.  One  of  these,  occurring  twice,  respects  the  in- 
heritance of  the  Levites  (vv.  14,  33).  No  territorial 
possessions  were  allotted  to  them  corresponding  to  those 
of  the  other  tribes.  In  the  one  place  it  is  said  that 
"  the  sacrifices  of  the  Lord  God  of  Israel  made  by  fire 
were  their  inheritance  "  ;  in  the  other,  that  "  the  Lord 
God  of  Israel  was  their  inheritance."  We  shall  after- 
wards find  the  arrangements  for  the  Levites  more  fully 
detailed  (chaps,  xx.,  xxi.).  This  early  allusion  to  the 
subject,  even  before  the  allotments  in  Western  Palestine 
begin  to  be  described,  shows  that  their  case  had 
been  carefully  considered,  and  that  it  was  not  by  over- 
sight but  deliberately  that  the  country  was  divided 
without  any  section  being  reserved  for  them. 

The  other  parenthetical  statement  respects  the  death 
of  Balaam.  "  Balaam  also,  the  soothsayer,  did  the 
children  of  Israel  slay  with  the  sword  among  them 
that  were  slain  by  them"  (ver.  22).  It  appears  from 
Numb.  xxxi.  8  that  the  slaughter  of  Balaam  took 
place  in  the  days  of  Moses,  by  the  hands  of  the 
expedition  sent  by  him  to  chastise  the  Midianites  for 
drawing  the  Israelites  into  idolatry.  That  the  fact 
should  be  again  noticed  here  is  probably  due  to  the 
circumstance  that  the  death  of  Balaam  occurred  at  the 


26o  THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 

place  which  had  just  been  noted — the  boundary  line 
between  Reuben  and  Gad.     It  was  a  fa.ct  well  worthy 
of  being  again  noted.     It  was  a  fact  never  to  be  for- 
gotten that  the  man  who  had  been  sent  for  to  curse 
was  constrained  to  bless.     As  far  as  Balaam's  public 
conduct   was   concerned,    he   behaved   well    to    Israel. 
He  emphasized  their  Divine  election  and  their  glorious 
privileges.     He  laid  especial  stress  upon  the  fact  that 
they  were  not  a  Bedouin  horde,  rushing  about  in  search 
of  plunder,  but  a  sacramental  host,  executing  the  judg- 
ments of  a  righteous  God — "  The  Lord  his  God  is  with 
him,  and  the  shout  of  a  king  is  among  them."     This 
was  a  valuable  testimony,  for  which  Israel  might  well 
be  grateful.     It  was  when  Balaam  took  part  in  that 
disgraceful    plot    to   entice    Israel   into  sensuality  and 
idolatry   that    he   came    out   in    his   real    colours.       It 
seemed  to  him  very  clever,  no  doubt,  to  obey  the  Divine 
command  in  the  letter  by  absolutely  refusing  to  curse 
Israel,    while  at   the   same   time   he   accomplished  the 
object  he  was    sent    for  by   seducing  them  into  sins 
which  brought  down  on  them  the  judgments  of  God. 
Nevertheless,  he  reckoned  without  his  host.     Possibly 
he  gained  his  reward,  but  he  did  not  live  to  enjoy  it ; 
and  *'  what  shall  a  man  be  profited  if  he  gain  the  whole 
world  and  forfeit  his  own  life  ?  "  (Matt.  xvi.  26,  R.V.). 
The  two  and  a  half  tribes  were  well  taught  by  the 
fate  of  Balaam  that,  in  the  end,  however  cunningly  a 
man  may  act,  his  sin  will  find   him  out.     They  were 
emphatically  reminded  that  the  sins  of  sensuality  and 
idolatry  are  exceedingly  hateful  in  the  sight  of  God, 
and  certain  to  be  punished.     They  were  assured  by  the 
testimony  of  Balaam,  that  Israel,  if  only  faithful,  would 
never  cease  to  enjoy  the  Divine  protection  and  blessing. 
But  they  were  reminded  that  God  is  not  mocked  :  that 


xiii.,xiv.  1-5.]     DIVISION  FOR  THE  EASTERN  TRIBES.    261 

whatsoever  a  man  soweth,  that  shall  he  also  reap. 
Balaam  had  sown  to  the  flesh  ;  of  the  flesh  it  behoved 
him  to  reap  corruption.  And  so  must  it  ever  be  ; 
however  ingeniously  you  may  disguise  sin,  however 
you  may  conceal  it  from  yourself,  and  persuade  yourself 
to  believe  that  you  are  not  doing  wrong,  sin  must  show 
itself  ultimately  in  its  true  colours,  and  your  ingenious 
disguises  will  not  shield  it  from  its  doom  : — "  The 
wages  of  sin  is  Death." 


CHAPTER   XXII. 

THE  INHERITANCE   OF  CALEB} 
Joshua  xiv.  6 — 15. 

CALEB  is  one  of  those  men  whom  we  meet  with 
seldom  in  Bible  history,  but  whenever  we  do  meet 
them  we  are  the  better  for  the  meeting.  Bright  and 
brave,  strong,  modest  and  cheerful,  there  is  honesty  in 
his  face,  courage  and  decision  in  the  very  pose  of  his 
body,  and  the  calm  confidence  of  faith  in  his  very  look 
and  attitude.  It  is  singular  that  there  should  be  cause 
to  doubt  whether  his  family  were  originally  of  the 
promised  seed.  When  introduced  to  us  in  the  present 
passage  he  is  emphatically  called  "Caleb,  the  son  of 

'  There  is  some  difficulty  in  adjusting  the  three  passages  in  which 
the  settlement  of  Caleb  is  referred  to.  From  this  first  passage  of 
the  three,  we  are  led  to  think  that  it  was  before  the  tribe  of  Judah 
obtained  its  portion.  Again,  from  chap.  xv.  13  we  might  suppose 
that  it  was  simultaneously  with  the  rest  of  the  tribe.  From  Judg. 
i.  10,  again,  it  might  be  thought  that  the  subduing  of  the  natives  in 
Hebron  was  effected,  not  by  Caleb  alone,  but  by  the  tribe  of  Judah, 
and  that  it  took  place  "  after  the  death  of  Joshua  "  (Judg.  i.  i).  Putting 
all  these  together,  it  would  appear  that  Hebron  was  assigned  to  Caleb 
before  the  tribe  of  Judah  was  settled ;  that  this  allocation  was  ratified 
at  the  general  settlement ;  that  as  Caleb  was  a  member  of  the  tribe, 
his  services  against  the  Canaanites,  and  especially  the  Anakim,  were 
ascribed  to  his  tribe ;  and  that  the  process  of  dispossessing  the 
Canaanites  went  on  for  some  time  after  the  death  of  Joshua.  The 
repetitions  in  the  narrative  concerning  Caleb  form  one  of  the  considera- 
tions that  favour  the  idea  of  more  sources  than  one  having  been  made 
use  of  in  the  composition  of  this  book. 

262 


xiv.6-is.]  THE  INHERITANCE  OF  CALEB.  263 

Jephunneh  the  Kenezite "  (R.V.,  Kenizzite,  rightly, 
same  as  Kenizzite  in  Gen.  xv.  19),  as  if  he  had  been 
a  descendant  of  Kenaz,  a  son  of  Esau  (Gen.  xxxvi. 
II  and  15),  and  a  member  of  the  Kenizzite  tribe.  It 
was  not  customary  to  distinguish  Israehtes  in  this  way, 
but  only  those  who  had  come  among  them  from  other 
tribes,  like  **  Heber  the  Kenite,"  ^'Jael,  the  wife  of 
Heber  the  Kenite"  (Judg.  iv.  11,  17),  Uriah  the 
Hittite,  Hushai  the  Archite,  etc.  Moreover,  Othniel, 
Caleb's  younger  brother,  is  called  the  son  of  Kenaz 
(Josh.  XV.  17);  and  further,  when  it  is  recorded  in  the 
fourteenth  verse  of  this  chapter  that  Hebron  became 
the  possession  of  Caleb,  the  reason  assigned  is  that 
he  "wholly  followed  the  Lord  God  of  Israeli  On  the 
other  hand,  in  the  genealogical  list  of  i  Chron.  iv.  13,  15, 
Othniel  and  Caleb  occur  as  if  they  were  regular  members 
of  the  tribe  ;  but  that  list  shows  obvious  signs  of  imper- 
fection. On  the  whole,  the  preponderance  of  evidence 
is  in  favour  of  the  opinion  that  Caleb's  family  were 
originally  outside  the  covenant,  but  had  become  prose- 
lytes, like  Hobab,  Rahab,  Ruth,  and  Heber.  Their 
faith  was  pre-eminently  the  fruit  of  conviction,  and  not 
the  accident  of  heredit3^  It  had  a  firmer  basis  than 
that  of  most  Israelites.  It  was  woven  more  closely 
into  the  texture  of  their  being,  and  swayed  their  lives 
more  powerfully.  It  is  pleasing  to  think  that  there  may 
have  been  many  such  proselytes ;  that  the  promise  to 
Abraham  may  have  attracted  souls  from  the  east,  and 
the  west,  and  the  north,  and  the  south ;  that  even 
beyond  the  limits  of  the  twelve  tribes  many  hearts 
may  have  been  cheered,  and  many  lives  elevated  and 
purified  by  the  promise  to  him,  "  In  thee  and  in  thy 
seed  shall  all  the  families  of  the  earth  be  blessed." 
Caleb  and  Joshua  had  believed  and  acted  alike,  in 


264  THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 

opposition  to  the  other  ten  spies ;  but  Caleb  occupies 
the  more  prominent  place  in  the  story  of  their  heroism 
and  faith.  It  was  he  that  *'  stilled  the  people  before 
Moses,  and  said,  Let  us  go  up  at  once,  and  possess  it ; 
for  we  are  well  able  to  overcome  it "  (Numb.  xiii.  30)  ; 
and  at  first  his  name  occurs  alone,  as  exempted  from 
the  sentence  of  exclusion  against  the  rest  of  his  genera- 
tion :  ''  But  my  servant  Caleb,  because  he  had  another 
spirit  with  him,  and  hath  followed  Me  fully,  him  will  I 
bring  into  the  land  whereinto  he  went :  and  his  seed 
shall  possess  it "  (Numb,  xiv,  24).  As  we  have  said 
before,  it  is  probable  that  Caleb  was  the  readier  speaker, 
and  it  is  possible  that  he  was  the  firmer  man.  Joshua 
seems  to  have  wanted  that  power  of  initiation  which 
Caleb  had.  It  was  because  he  had  always  been  a  good 
follower  that  Joshua  in  his  old  age  was  fitted  to  be  a 
leader.  Because  he  had  been  a  good  servant  he  became 
a  good  master.  As  long  as  Moses  lived,  Joshua  was 
his  servant.  After  Moses  died,  Joshua  set  himself 
simply  to  carry  out  his  instructions.  It  was  a  happy 
thing  for  him  on  the  return  of  the  ten  spies  that  Caleb 
was  one  of  them,  otherwise  he  might  have  found  himself 
in  a  condition  of  embarrassment.  Caleb  was  evidently 
the  man  who  led  the  opposition  to  the  ten,  not  only 
asserting  the  course  of  duty,  but  manifesting  the  spirit 
of  contempt  and  defiance  toward  the  faithless  cowards 
that  forgot  that  God  was  with  them.  In  his  inmost  heart 
Joshua  was  quite  of  his  mind,  but  probably  he  wanted 
the  energetic  manner,  the  ringing  voice,  the  fearless 
attitude  of  his  more  demonstrative  companion.  Certain 
it  is  that  Caleb  reaped  the  chief  honour  of  that  day.^ 

'  Some  readers  may  no  doubt  prefer  the  explanation  that  when 
Caleb  is  mentioned  alone  one  document  was  followed,  and  when 
Caleb  and  Joshua  are  coupled,  another. 


xiv.6-i5.]  THE  INHERITANCE  OF  CALEB.  265 

It  is  beautiful  to  see  that  there  was  no  rivalry  between 
them.  Not  only  |did  Caleb  interpose  no  remonstrance 
when  Joshua  was  called  to  succeed  Moses,  but  he 
seems  all  through  the  wars  to  have  yielded  to  him 
the  most  loyal  and  hearty  submission.  God  had  set 
His  seal  on  Joshua,  and  the  people  had  ratified  the 
appointment,  and  Caleb  was  too  magnanimous  to  allow 
any  poor  ambition  of  his,  if  he  had  any,  to  come  in 
the  way  of  the  Divine  will  and  the  public  good.  His 
affectionate  and  cordial  bearing  on  the  present  occasion 
seems  to  show  that  not  even  in  the  corner  of  his  heart 
did  there  linger  a  trace  of  jealousy  toward  the  old 
friend  and  companion  whom  on  that  occasion  he  had 
surpassed,  but  who  had  been  set  so  much  higher  than 
himself  He  came  to  him  as  the  recognised  leader  of 
the  people — as  the  man  whose  voice  was  to  decide  the 
question  he  now  submitted,  as  the  judge  and  arbiter 
in  a  matter  which  very  closely  concerned  him  and  his 
house. 

And  yet  there  are  indications  of  tact  on  the  part  of 
Caleb,  of  a  thorough  understanding  of  the  character 
of  Joshua,  and  of  the  sort  of  considerations  by  which 
he  might  be  expected  to  be  swayed.  There  were  two 
grounds  on  which  he  might  reasonably  look  for  the 
conceding  of  his  request — his  personal  services,  and 
the  promise  of  Moses.  Caleb  knows  well  that  the 
promise  of  Moses  will  influence  Joshua  much  more 
than  any  other  consideration ;  therefore  he  puts  it  in 
the  foreground.  '^Thou  knowest  the  thing  that  the 
Lord  said  unto  Moses,  the  man  of  God,  concerning  me 
and  thee  in  Kadesh-barnea."  "  Moses,  the  man  of 
God."  Why  does  Caleb  select  that  remarkable  epithet  ? 
Why  add  anything  to  the  usual  name,  Moses  ?  The 
use   of  the   epithet   was    honouring  to   all  the  three. 


266  THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 


That  which  constituted  the  highest  glory  of  Moses  was 
that  he  was  so  much  at  one  with  God.  God's  will  was 
ever  his  law,  and  he  was  in  such  close  sympathy  with 
God  that  whatever  instructions  he  gave  on  any  subject 
might  be  assumed  to  be  in  accordance  with  God's  will. 
Moreover,  in  calling  him  ^'  the  man  of  God "  when 
addressing  Joshua,  Caleb  assumed  that  Joshua  would 
be  impressed  by  this  consideration,  and  would  be 
disposed  to  agree  to  a  request  which  was  not  only 
sanctioned  by  the  will  of  Moses,  but  by  that  higher 
will  which  Moses  constantly  recognised.  In  short, 
when  Joshua  considered  that  the  particular  wish  of 
Moses  which  Caleb  now  recalled  was  only  the  expression 
of  the  Divine  will,  Caleb  felt  assured  that  he  could  not 
withhold  his  consent.  The  three  men  were  indeed  a 
noble  trio,  worthy  descendants  of  their  father  Abraham, 
even  if  one  of  the  three  was  no  son  of  Jacob.  Long 
before  our  Lord  taught  the  petition  ^^  Thy  will  be  done 
on  earth  as  it  is  in  heaven,"  it  had  become  habitual  to 
them  all.  Moses  was  indeed  ''  the  man  of  God," — pre- 
eminently in  fellowship  with  Him  ;  in  a  lower  sphere 
both  Caleb  and  Joshua  were  of  the  same  order,  men 
who  tried  to  live  their  lives,  and  every  part  of  them, 
only  in  God. 

Having  fortified  his  plea  with  this  strong  reference 
at  once  to  Moses  and  to  God,  Caleb  proceeds  to  rehearse 
the  service  which  had  led  to  the  promise  of  Moses. 
The  facts  could  not  but  be  well  known  to  Joshua. 
*'  Forty  years  old  was  I  when  Moses,  the  servant  of  the 
Lord,  sent  me  from  Kadesh-barnea  to  spy  out  the  land, 
and  I  brought  him  word  again  as  it  was  in  my  heart. 
Nevertheless,  my  brethren  that  went  up  with  me  made 
the  heart  of  the  people  melt ;  but  I  wholly  followed 
the  Lord  my  God."     Why  does  Caleb  put  the  matter 


xiv.  6-15.]  THE  INHERITANCE  OF  CALEB.  267 


in  this  way  ?  Why  does  he  not  couple  Joshua  with 
himself  as  having  been  faithful  on  that  never-to-be- 
forgotten  occasion  ?  The  only  explanation  that  seems 
feasible  is,  that  from  the  pre-eminent  position  of  Joshua 
this  was  unnecessary,  perhaps  it  might  have  appeared 
even  unbecoming.  A  soldier  making  a  request  of  the 
Duke  of  Wellington,  and  recalling  some  service  he  had 
done  at  the  battle  of  Waterloo,  would  hardly  think  it 
necessary,  or  even  becoming,  to  say  how  the  Duke,  too, 
had  been  there,  and  what  surpassing  service  he  had 
rendered  on  that  day.  A  soldier  like  the  Duke  occupy- 
ing a  position  of  unrivalled  pre-eminence  on  account  of 
long  and  brilliant  service,  does  not  need  to  be  told 
what  he  has  done,  Joshua  was  now  the  leader  of 
Israel,  and  the  last  few  years  had  crowned  him  with 
such  manifold  glory  that  his  whole  life  was  trans- 
figured, and  individual  acts  of  service  did  not  need  to 
be  spoken  of  Caleb  was  comparatively  an  obscure 
individual,  whose  fame  rested  on  a  single  service  now 
nearly  half  a  century  old,  which  could  not,  indeed,  be 
quite  forgotten,  but  amid  the  brilliant  events  of  later 
times  might  easily  pass  out  of  sight  and  out  of  mind. 
There  was  no  disparagement  of  Joshua,  therefore,  in  his 
not  being  mentioned  by  Caleb,  but,  on  the  contrary, 
a  silent  tribute  to  his  exalted  office  as  chief  ruler  of 
Israel,  and  to  his  all  but  unparalleled  services,  especially 
during  these  later  years. 

"  I  brought  him  word  again,  as  it  was  in  my  hearth 
The  statement  is  made  in  no  boasting  spirit,  and  yet 
what  a  rare  virtue  it  denotes  I  Caleb,  as  we  now  say, 
had  the  courage  of  his  convictions.  He  had  both  an 
honest  heart  and  an  honest  tongue.  We  can  have  but 
little  idea  what  temptations  he  lay  under  not  to  speak 
what  was  in  his  heart.     For  six  weeks  these  ten  men 


268  THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 


had  been  his  close  companions.  They  had  eaten  to- 
gether, slept  under  the  same  canvas,  walked  by  the 
same  paths,  beguiled  the  long  way  by  story  and 
anecdote,  and  no  doubt  by  joke  and  play  of  humour, 
and  done  kind  offices  to  each  other  as  circumstances 
required.  To  break  away  from  your  own  set,  from 
the  comrades  of  3^our  campaign,  to  upset  their  plans, 
and  counsel  those  in  power  to  a  course  diametrically 
opposed  to  theirs,  is  one  of  the  most  difficult  of  social 
duties.  And  in  these  days  of  ours  there  is  no  duty  more 
commonly  set  aside.  Moral  cowardice  has  been  well 
said  to  be  one  of  the  most  common  vices  of  our  age. 

What  more  common  in  Parliament,  for  example,  than 
for  men  to  differ  strongly  from  some  of  the  measures 
of  their  party,  and  yet,  because  it  is  their  party, 
support  them  by  their  votes  ?  And  in  the  ranks  of 
the  Church  and  of  its  various  sections  the  same  ten- 
dency prevails,  though  it  may  be  in  a  less  degree.  Of 
the  many  able  and  seemingly  honest  prelates  of  the 
Roman  Church  who  dissented,  often  with  vehemence, 
from  the  Vatican  decree  of  the  pope's  infallibihty,  what 
became  finally  of  their  opposition  ?  Were  there  more 
than  one  or  two  who  did  not  surrender  in  the  end,  and 
agree  to  profess  what  they  did  not  believe  ?  And  to 
come  to  more  ordinary  matters,  when  our  opinions  on 
religious  subjects  are  at  a  discount,  when  they  are  met 
with  ridicule,  how  often  do  we  conceal  them,  or  trim 
and  modify  them  in  order  that  we  may  not  share  in 
the  current  condemnation  ?  The  men  that  have  the 
courage  of  their  convictions  are  often  social  mart3TS, 
shut  out  from  the  fellowship  of  their  brethren,  shut 
out  from  every  berth  of  honour  or  emolument,  and  yet, 
for  their  courage  and  honesty,  worthy  of  infinitely 
higher  regard  than  whole  hundreds  of  the  time-servers 


xiv.  6-I5.J  THE  INHERITANCE  OF  CALEB.  269 


that  ''get  on"  in  the  world  by  humouring  its  errors 
and  its  folhes. 

Nevertheless,  though  most  of  us  show  ourselves 
miserably  weak  by  not  speaking  out  all  that  is  "in  our 
hearts,"  especially  when  the  honour  of  our  Lord  and 
Master  is  concerned,  we  are  able  to  appreciate  and 
cannot  fail  to  admire  the  noble  exhibitions  of  courage 
that  we  sometimes  meet  with.  That  beautiful  creation 
of  Milton's,  the  Seraph  Abdiel,  "faithful  found  among 
the  faithless,  faithful  only  he,"  is  the  type  and  ideal 
of  the  class.  Shadrach,  Meshach,  and  Abednego  re- 
sisting the  enthusiasm  of  myriads  and  calmly  defying 
the  fiery  furnace ;  the  Apostle  Paul  clinging  to  his 
views  of  the  law  and  the  gospel  when  even  his  brother 
Peter  had  begun  to  waver ;  Martin  Luther,  with  his 
foot  on  the  Bible  confronting  the  whole  world ;  John 
Knox  defying  sovereign  and  nobles  and  priests  alike, 
determined  that  the  gospel  should  be  freely  preached ; 
Care}',  going  out  as  a  missionary  to  India  amid  the 
derision  of  the  world,  because  he  could  not  get  the 
words  out  of  his  head,  "  Go  ye  into  all  the  world,  and 
preach  the  gospel  unto  every  creature," — have  all 
exemplified  the  Caleb  spirit  that  must  utter  what  is  in 
the  heart ;  nor  has  any  new  idea  commonly  laid  hold 
of  mankind  till*  the  struggles  of  some  great  hero  or 
the  ashes  of  some  noble  martyr  have  gone  to  sanctify 
the  cause. 

"  He  that  beheveth  shall  not  make  haste."  Caleb 
believed,  and  therefore  he  was  patient.  Five-and-forty 
long  years  had  elapsed  since  Moses,  the  man  of  God, 
speaking  in  the  Spirit  of  God,  had  promised  him  a 
particular  inheritance  in  the  land.  It  was  a  long  time 
for  faith  to  live  on  a  promise,  but,  like  a  tree  in  the 
face  of  a  cliff  that  seems  to  grow  out  of  the  solid  rock, 


270  THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 

it  derived  nourishment  from  unseen  sources.  It  was 
a  long  time  to  be  looking  forward ;  but  Caleb,  though 
he  did  not  receive  the  promise  during  all  that  time, 
was  persuaded  of  it  and  embraced  it,  and  believed  that 
at  last  it  would  come  true.  He  did  not  anticipate  the 
proper  time,  though  he  might  have  had  as  plausible 
reasons  for  doing  so  as  the  two  tribes  and  a  half  had 
for  asking  leave  to  settle  on  the  east  side  of  the  river. 
He  bore  his  share  of  warlike  work,  bore  the  burden 
and  heat  of  the  day,  waited  till  the  proper  time  for 
dividing  the  land.  Nor  did  he  rush  forward  selfishly 
by  himself,  disregarding  the  interests  of  the  rest  of 
his  tribe ;  for  the  children  of  Judah,  recognising  his 
claim,  draw  near  to  Joshua  along  with  him.  Nor  was 
it  a  portion  of  the  land  which  any  tribe  might  be 
eager  to  enter  upon  that  he  asked ;  for  it  was  still  so 
harassed  by  the  Anakim,  that  there  would  be  no  peace 
till  that  formidable  body  of  giants  were  driven  out. 

It  seems  that  when  acting  as  one  of  the  twelve 
spies,  Caleb  had  in  some  emphatic  way  taken  his  stand 
on  Hebron.  '^  The  land  on  which  thy  foot  hath  trodden 
will  be  an  inheritance  to  thee."  Perhaps  the  spies 
were  too  terrified  to  approach  Hebron,  for  the  sons  of 
the  Anakim  were  there,  and,  in  the  confidence  of  faith, 
Caleb,  or  Caleb  and  Joshua,  had  gone  into  it  alone. 
Moses  had  promised  him  Hebron,  and  now  he  came 
to  claim  it.  But  he  came  to  claim  it  under  circum- 
stances that  would  have  induced  most  men  to  let  it 
alone.  The  driving  out  of  the  Anakim  was  a  formid- 
able duty,  and  the  task  might  have  seemed  more 
suitable  for  one  who  had  the  strength  and  enthusiasm 
of  youth  on  his  side.  But  Caleb,  though  eighty-five, 
was  yet  young.  Age  is  not  best  measured  by  years. 
He  was  a  remarkable  instance  of  prolonged  vigour  and 


xiv.6-i5.]  THE  INHERITANCE  OF  CALEB.  271 

youthful  energy.  "As  yet  I  am  as  strong  this  day  as 
I  was  in  the  day  that  Moses  sent  me ;  as  my  strength 
was  then,  even  so  is  my  strength  now,  for  war,  and  to 
go  out  and  to  come  in."  Faith,  and  temperance,  and 
cheerfulness  are  wonderful  aids  to  longevity.  As  one 
reads  these  words  of  Caleb,  one  recalls  the  saying  of 
a  well-known  physician,  Dr.  Richardson,  that  the  human 
frame  might  last  for  a  hundred  years  if  it  were  only 
treated  aright. 

There  is  something  singularly  touching  in  Caleb's 
asking  as  a  favour  what  was  really  a  most  hazardous 
but  important  service  to  the  nation.  Rough  though 
these  Hebrew  soldiers  were,  they  were  capable  of  the 
most  gentlemanly  and  chivalrous  acts.  There  can  be 
no  higher  act  of  courtesy  than  to  treat  as  a  favour  to 
yourself  what  is  really  a  great  service  to  another. 
Well  done,  Caleb !  You  do  not  ask  for  a  berth  which 
there  will  be  no  trouble  in  taking  or  in  keeping.  You 
are  not  like  Issachar,  the  strong  ass  couching  between 
the  sheepfolds  :  "and  he  saw  a  resting-place  that  it 
was  good,  and  the  land  that  it  was  pleasant ;  and  he 
bowed  his  shoulder  to  bear,  and  became  a  servant 
under  task-work."  The  dew  of  youth  is  yet  upon  you, 
the  stirring  of  lofty  purpose  and  noble  endeavour ;  you 
are  like  the  warhorse  of  Job — "  he  paweth  in  the  valley 
and  rejoiceth  in  his  strength ;  he  mocketh  at  fear,  and 
is  not  dismayed ;  he  smelleth  the  battle  afar  off,  the 
thunder  of  the  captains  and  the  shouting." 

There  is  nothing  we  admire  more  in  military  annals 
than  a  soldier  volunteering  for  the  most  hazardous  and 
difficult  of  posts, — showing 

"That  stern  joy  which  warriors  feel 
In  foemen  worthy  of  their  steel." 

In  the  spiritual  warfare,  too,  we  do  not  want  instances 


272  THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 

of  the  same  spirit.     We  recall  Captain  Allan  Gardiner 
choosing  Tierra  del  Fuego  as  his  mission  sphere  just 
because  the  people   were  so  ferocious,  the  climate  so 
repulsive,  and  the  work  so  difficult  that  no  one  else  was 
likely  to  take  it  up.     We    think  of  the  second   band 
who  went  out  after  Gardiner  and  his  companions  had 
been  starved  to  death ;  and  still  more  after  these  were 
massacred  by  the  natives,  of  the  third  detachment  who 
were  moved  simply  by  the  consideration  that  the  case 
was  seemingly  so  desperate.    Or  we  think  of  Livingstone 
begging  the  directors  of  the  London  Missionary  Society, 
wherever  they  sent  him,  to  be  sure  that  it  was  "  For- 
ward "  ;  turning  aside  from  all  previous  mission  stations, 
and  the  comparative  ease  they  afforded,  to  grapple  with 
the  barbarian  where  he  had  never  begun  to  be  tamed  ; 
his  eyes   thirsting   for   unknov\^n    scenes    and    untried 
dangers,  because  he  scorned  to  build  on  the  foundation 
of  others,  and  thirsted  for  *^  fresh  woods  and  pastures 
new."     We  think  of  him  persevering  in  his  task  from 
year  to  year   in    the   same   lofty  spirit ;    disregarding 
the  misery  of  protracted  pain,  the  intense  longings  of 
his  weary    heart    for   home,    the   repulsive    society   of 
savages  and  cannibals,  the  vexations,  disappointments, 
and  obstacles  that  seemed  to  multiply  every  day,  the 
treachery  of  so-called  friends  whom  he  had  helped  to 
raise,   the  indifference   of  a  careless  world,   and    of  a 
languid  Church;  but  ever  girding  himself  with  fresh 
energy  for  the  task  which  he  had  undertaken,  and  of 
which  the  difficulties  and  trials  had  never  been  absent 
from  his  thoughts.     We  think  of  many  a  young  mis- 
sionary turning  away  from  the  comfortable  life  which 
he  might  lead  at  home  and  which  many  of  his  com- 
panions will  lead,  that  he  may  go  where  the  need  is 
greatest  and  the  fight  is  hottest,  and  so  render  to  his 


xiv.  6-15.]  THE  INHERITANCE  OF  CALEB.  273 

Master  the  greatest  possible  service.  A  crowd  of  noble 
names  comes  to  our  recollection — Williams,  and  Judson, 
and  Morrison,  and  Burns,  and  Patteson,  and  Keith- 
Falconer,  and  Hannington,  and  Mackay — men  for 
whom  even  the  Anakim  had  no  terrors,  but  rather  an 
attraction ;  but  who,  serving  under  another  Joshua, 
differed  from  Caleb  in  this,  that  what  they  desired  was 
not  to  destroy  these  ferocious  Anakim,  but  to  conquer 
them  by  love,  and  to  demonstrate  the  power  of  the 
gospel  of  Jesus  Christ  to  change  the  vilest  reprobates 
into  sons  of  God. 

And  even  now  there  are  other  Anakim  among  us 
for  whom  the  fate  of  the  Canaanite  giants  ought  to  be 
reserved.  Anakim  within  us — greed,  selfishness,  love 
of  ease,  lust,  passion,  cruelty — ^all,  if  we  are  faithful, 
to  be  put  to  the  edge  of  the  sword.  And  there  are 
Anakim,  tremendous  Anakim,  around  us — drunken- 
ness, and  all  that  fosters  it,  despite  the  paltry  excuses 
we  so  often  hear ;  sensuality,  that  vile  murderer  of 
soul  and  body  together  ;  avarice,  so  cruelly  unjust,  and 
content  to  gather  its  hoard  from  the  thews  and  sinews 
of  men  and  women  to  whom  life  has  become  worse 
than  slavery  ;  luxurious  living,  that  mocks  the  struggles 
of  thousands  to  whom  one  crumb  from  the  table  or 
one  rag  from  the  wardrobe  would  bring  such  a  blessed 
relief.  With  giants  like  these  we  need  to  wage  incessant 
war,  and  for  the  necessary  spirit  we  need  constant 
supplies  of  the  faith  and  courage  that  were  so  remark- 
able in  Caleb.  He  followed  the  Lord  fully ;  believing 
that  if  the  Lord  deserved  to  be  followed  at  all.  He 
deserved  to  be  followed  in  full.  What  was  there  to 
gain  by  following  Him  one  half,  and  surrendering  the 
other  half  to  the  world  ?  Could  he  count  on  God 
helping  him  if  he  went  with  but  half  his  heart  into  His 

18 


274  THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 


service,  and,  like  Lot's  wife,  looked  back  even  when 
flying  from  Sodom  ?  '*  Thou  shalt  love  the  Lord  thy 
God  with  all  thy  heart,  and  with  all  thy  soul,  and  with 
all  thy  strength,  and  with  all  thy  might." 

The  tendency  to  compromise  is  one  of  the  besetting 
sins  of  the  day.  In  the  army  or  the  navy,  if  one  is 
to  serve  God  at  all,  one  must  serve  Him  wholly. 
Decision  is  eminently  requisite  there,  and  Christians 
there  are  commonly  more  whole-hearted  and  consistent 
than  in  many  circles  nominally  Christian,  Decision  is 
manly,  is  noble  ;  it  brings  rest  within,  and  in  the  end 
it  conciliates  the  respect  of  the  bitterest  foes.  Courage 
is  the  ornament  of  Christianity,  and  the  crown  of  the 
Christian  youth.  "  Fear  not  "  is  one  of  the  brightest 
gems  of  the  Bible. 


CHAPTER   XXIII. 

THE  DISTRIBUTION  OF  THE  LAND. 
Joshua  xv. — xix. 

WE  come  now  in  earnest  to  the  distribution  of 
the  land.  The  two  and  a  half  tribes  have 
already  got  their  settlements  on  the  other  side  of 
Jordan ;  but  the  other  side  of  Jordan,  though  included 
in  the  land  of  promise,  was  outside  the  part  specially 
consecrated  as  the  theatre  of  Divine  manifestation  and 
dealing.  From  Dan  to  Beersheba  and  from  Jordan  to 
the  sea  vjd.'s,  par  excellence  the  land  of  Israel  ;  it  was  here 
the  patriarchs  had  dwelt ;  it  was  here  that  most  of  the 
promises  had  been  given  ;  it  was  here  that  Abraham, 
Isaac,  and  Jacob  had  been  buried  ;  and  here  also,  though 
in  another  tomb,  that  the  bones  of  Joseph  had  been 
laid.  This  portion  was  the  kernel  of  the  inheritance, 
surrounded  by  a  wide  penumbra  of  more  feeble  light 
and  fewer  privileges.  In  due  time  there  arose  a  holy 
of  holies  within  this  consecrated  region,  when  Jerusalem 
became  the  capital,  the  focus  of  blessing  and  holy 
influence. 

Now  that  the  distribution  of  this  part  of  the  country 
begins,  we  must  give  special  attention  to  the  operation. 
The  narrative  looks  very  bare,  but  important  principles 
and  lessons  underlie  it.  These  lists  of  unfamiliar 
names  look  like  the  debris  of  a  quarry — hard,  meaning- 

275 


276  THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 


less,  and  to  us  useless.  But  nothing  is  inserted  in 
the  Bible  without  a  purpose, — a  purpose  that  in  some 
sense  bears  on  the  edification  of  the  successive  genera- 
tions and  the  various  races  of  men.  We  are  not  to 
pass  the  distribution  over  because  it  looks  unpromising, 
but  rather  to  inquire  with  all  the  greater  care  what  the 
bearing  of  it  is  on  ourselves. 

Now,  in  the  first  place,  there  is  something  to  be 
learned  from  the  maintenance  of  the  distinction  of  the 
twelve  tribes,  and  the  distribution  of  the  country  into 
portions  corresponding  to  each.  In  some  degree  this 
was  in  accordance  with  Oriental  usage ;  for  the  country 
had  already  been  occupied  by  various  races,  dwelling 
in  a  kind  of  unity — the  Canaanites,  Amorites,  Hittites, 
Hivites,  Jebusites,  Perizzites,  and  Girgashites.  What 
was  peculiar  to  Israel  was,  that  each  of  the  tribes  was 
descended  from  one  of  Jacob's  sons,  and  that  their 
relation  to  each  other  was  conspicuously  maintained, 
though  their  dwelling-places  were  apart.  It  was  an 
arrangement  capable  of  becoming  a  great  benefit  under 
a  right  spirit,  or  a  great  evil  under  the  opposite.  As 
in  the  case  of  the  separate  states  of  North  America, 
or  the  separate  cantons  of  Switzerland,  it  provided  for 
variety  in  unity  ;  it  gave  a  measure  of  local  freedom 
and  independence,  while  it  maintained  united  action  ; 
it  contributed  to  the  life  and  vigour  of  the  common- 
wealth, without  destroying  its  oneness  of  character,  or 
impairing  its  common  purpose  and  aim.  It  promoted 
that  picturesque  variety  often  found  in  little  countries, 
where  each  district  has  a  dialect,  or  a  pronunciation,  or 
traditions,  or  a  character  of  its  own  ;  as  Yorkshire 
differs  from  Devon,  or  Lancashire  from  Cornwall ; 
Aberdeenshire  from  Berwick,  or  Fife  from  Ayr.  As  in 
a  garden,  variety  of  species  enlivens  and  enriches  the 


xv.-xix.]       THE  DISTRIBUTION  OF  THE  LAND.  277 

effect,  so  in  a  community,  variety  of  type  enriches 
and  enlivens  the  common  Ufe.  A  regiment  of  soldiers 
clothed  in  the  same  uniform,  measuring  the  same  stature, 
marching  to  the  same  step,  may  look  very  well  as 
a  contrast  to  the  promiscuous  crowd  ;  but  when  a 
painter  would  paint  a  striking  picture  it  is  from  the 
promiscuous  crowd  in  all  their  variety  of  costume  and 
stature  and  attitude  that  his  figures  are  drawn.  In  the 
case  of  the  Hebrew  commonwealth,  the  distinction  of 
tribes  became  smaller  as  time  went  on,  and  in  New 
Testament  times  the  three  gi^eat  districts  Judaea,  Samaria, 
and  Galilee  showed  only  the  survival  of  the  fittest.  A 
larger  individuality  and  a  wider  variety  would  un- 
doubtedly have  prevailed  if  a  good  spirit  had  continued 
to  exist  among  the  tribes,  and  if  all  of  them  had  shown 
the  energy  and  the  enterprise  of  some. 

But  the  wrong  spirit  came  in,  and  came  in  with  a 
witness,  and  mischief  ensued.  For  distinctions  in 
race  and  family  are  apt  to  breed  rivalry  and  enmity, 
and  not  only  to  destroy  all  the  good  which  may  come 
of  variety,  but  to  introduce  interminable  mischief  For 
many  a  long  day  the  Scottish  clans  were  like  Ishmael, 
their  hand  against  every  man,  and  every  man's  hand 
against  them  ;  or  at  least  one  clan  was  at  interminable 
feud  with  another,  and  the  country  was  wretched  and 
desolate.  Among  the  twelve  tribes  of  Israel  the  spirit 
of  rivalry  soon  showed  itself,  leading  to  disastrous 
consequences.  In  the  time  of  the  judges,  the  men  of 
Ephraim  exhibited  their  temper  by  envying  Gideon 
when  he  subdued  the  Midianites,  and  Jephthah  when 
he  subdued  the  Ammonites ;  and  under  Jephthah  a 
prodigious  slaughter  of  Ephraimites  resulted  from  their 
unreasonable  spirit.  In  the  time  of  the  kings,  a  per- 
manent schism  was   caused  by  the  revolt  of  the  ten 


278  THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 

tribes  from  the  house  of  David.  Thus  it  is  that  the 
sin  of  man  often  perverts  arrangements  designed  for 
good,  and  so  perverts  them  that  they  become  sources 
of  grievous  evil.  The  family  order  is  a  thing  of  heaven  ; 
but  let  a  bad  spirit  creep  into  a  family,  the  result  is 
fearful.  Let  husband  and  wife  become  alienated ;  let 
father  and  son  begin  to  quarrel ;  let  brother  set  himself 
against  brother,  and  let  them  begin  to  scheme  not  for 
mutual  benefit  but  for  mutual  injury,  no  limits  can  be 
set  to  the  resulting  mischief  and  misery. 

Many  arrangements  of  our  modern  civilization  that 
conduce  to  our  comfort  when  in  good  order,  become 
sources  of  unexampled  evil  when  they  go  wrong.  The 
drainage  of  houses  conduces  much  to  comfort  while  it 
works  smoothly ;  but  let  the  drains  become  choked,  and 
send  back  into  our  houses  the  poisonous  gases  bred  of 
decomposition,  the  consequences  are  appaUing.  The 
sanitary  inspector  must  be  on  the  alert  to  detect  mischief 
in  its  very  beginnings,  and  apply  the  remedy  before 
we  have  well  become  conscious  of  the  evil.  And  so 
a  vigilant  eye  needs  ever  to  be  kept  on  those  arrange- 
ments of  providence  that  are  so  beneficial  when  duly 
carried  out,  and  so  pernicious  when  thoughtlessly 
perverted.  What  a  wonderful  thing  is  a  little  forbear- 
ance at  the  beginning  of  a  threatened  strife  I  What 
a  priceless  blessing  is  the  soft  answer  that  turneth 
away  wrath !  There  is  a  pithy  tract  bearing  the  title 
''The  Oiled  Feather."  The  oiled  feather  has  a  re- 
markable power  of  smoothing  surfaces  that  would 
otherwise  grate  and  grind  upon  each  other,  and  so  of 
averting  evil.  Among  Christians  it  should  be  always 
at  hand ;  for  surely,  if  the  forbearance  and  love  that 
avert  quarrels  ought  to  be  found  anywhere,  it  is  among 
those  who  have  received  the  fulness  of  Divine  love  and 


xv.-xix.]       THE  DISTRIBUTION  OF  THE  LAND.  279 

grace  in  Jesus  Christ.  Surely  among  them  there  should 
be  no  perversion  of  Divine  arrangements ;  in  their 
homes  no  quarrels,  and  in  their  hearts  no  rivalry.  They 
ought,  instead,  to  be  the  peacemakers  of  the  world,  not 
only  because  they  have  received  the  peace  that  passeth 
understanding,  but  because  their  Master  has  said, 
*'  Blessed  are  the  peacemakers,  for  they  shall  be  called 
the  children  of  God." 

2.  Again,  in  the  allocation  of  the  tribes  in  their 
various  territories  we  have  an  instance  of  a  great 
natural  law,  the  law  of  distribution,  a  law  that,  on  the 
whole,  operates  very  beneficially  throughout  the  world. 
In  society  there  is  both  a  centripetal  and  a  centrifugal 
force ;  the  centripetal  chiefly  human,  the  centrifugal 
chiefly  Divine.  Men  are  prone  to  cluster  together ; 
God  promotes  dispersion.  Through  the  Divine  law  of 
marriage,  a  man  leaves  his  father's  house  and  cleaves 
to  his  wife ;  a  new  home  is  established,  a  new  centre 
of  activity,  a  new  source  of  population.  In  the  early 
ages  they  clustered  about  the  plain  of  Shinar ;  the 
confusion  of  tongues  scattered  them  abroad.  And 
generally,  in  any  fertile  and  desirable  spot,  men  have 
been  prone  to  multiply  till  food  has  failed  them,  and 
either  starvation  at  home  or  emigration  abroad  becomes 
inevitable.  And  so  it  is  that,  in  spite  of  their  cohesive 
tendency,  men  are  now  pretty  well  scattered  over  the 
globe.  And  when  once  they  are  settled  in  new  homes, 
they  acquire  adaptation  to  their  locality,  and  begin  to 
love  it.  The  Esquimaux  is  not  only  adapted  to  his 
icy  home,  but  is  fond  of  it.  The  naked  negro  has  no 
quarrel  with  the  burning  sun,  but  enjoys  his  sunny 
life.  We  of  the  temperate  zone  can  hardly  endure  the 
heat  of  the  tropics,  and  we  shiver  at  the  very  thought 
of  Lapland.     It  is  a  proof  of  Divine  wisdom  that  a 


28o  THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 

world  that  presents  such  a  variety  of  climates  and 
conditions  has,  in  all  parts  of  it,  inhabitants  that  enjoy 
their  life. 

The  same  law  operates  in  the  vegetable  world. 
Everywhere  plants  seem  to  discover  the  localities  where 
they  thrive  best.  Even  in  the  same  country  you  have 
one  flora  for  the  valley  and  another  for  the  mountain. 
The  lichen  spreads  itself  along  the  surface  of  rocks,  or 
the  hard  bark  of  ancient  trees ;  the  fungus  tarries  in 
damp,  unventilated  corners ;  the  primrose  settles  on 
open  banks  ;  the  fern  in  shady  groves.  There  is  always 
a  place  for  the  plant,  and  a  plant  for  the  place.  And 
it  is  so  with  animals  too.  The  elephant  in  the  spreading 
forest,  the  rabbit  in  the  sandy  down,  the  beaver  beside 
the  stream,  the  caterpillar  in  the  leafy  garden.  If  we 
could  explore  the  ocean  we  should  find  the  law  of  distri- 
bution in  full  activity  there.  There  is  one  great  order  of 
fishes  for  fresh  water,  another  for  salt ;  one  great  class 
of  insects  in  hot  climates,  another  in  temperate ;  birds 
of  the  air,  from  the  eagle  to  the  humming-bird,  from 
the  ostrich  to  the  bat,  in  localities  adapted  to  their 
habits.  We  ask  not  whether  this  result  was  due  to 
creation  or  to  evolution.  There  it  is,  and  its  effect  is 
to  cover  the  earth.  All  its  localities,  desirable  and 
undesirable,  are  more  or  less  occupied  with  inhabitants. 
Some  of  the  great  deserts  that  our  imagination  used 
to  create  in  Africa  or  elsewhere  do  not  exist.  Barren 
spots  there  are,  and  "miry  places  and  marshes  given 
to  salt,"  but  they  are  not  many.  The  earth  has  been 
replenished,   and  the  purpose  of  God  so  far  fulfilled. 

And  then  there  is  a  distribution  of  talents.  We  are 
not  all  created  alike,  with  equal  dividends  of  the  gifts 
and  faculties  that  minister  in  some  way  to  the  purposes 
of  our  life.     We  depend  more  or  less  on  one  another  ; 


xv.-xix.]       THE  DISTRIBUTION  OF  THE  LAND.  281 


women  on  men,  and  men  on  women  ;  the  young  on 
the  old,  and  sometimes  the  old  on  the  young  ;  persons 
of  one  talent  on  those  of  another  talent,  those  with 
strong  sinews  on  those  with  clear  heads,  and  those 
with  clear  heads  on  those  with  strong  sinews ;  in  short, 
society  is  so  constituted  that  what  each  has  he  has  for 
all,  and  what  all  have  they  have  for  each.  The  principle 
of  the  division  of  labour  is  brought  in  ;  and  in  a  well- 
ordered  community  the  general  wealth  and  well-being 
of  the  whole  are  better  promoted  by  the  interchange  of 
offices,  than  if  each  person  within  himself  had  a  little 
stock  of  all  that  he  required. 

The  same  law  of  distribution  prevails  in  the  Church 
of  Christ.  It  was  exemplified  in  an  interesting  way 
in  the  case  of  our  Lord's  apostles.  No  one  of  these 
was  a  duplicate  of  another.  Four  of  them,  taking  in 
Paul,  were  types  of  varieties  which  have  been  found 
in  all  ages  of  the  Church.  In  a  remarkable  paper  in 
the  Contemporary  Review,  Professor  Godet  of  Neu- 
chatel,  after  delineating  the  characteristics  of  Peter, 
James,  John,  and  Paul,  remarked  what  an  interesting 
thing  it  was,  that  four  men  of  such  various  tempera- 
ments should  all  have  found  supreme  satisfaction  in 
Jesus  of  Nazareth,  and  should  have  yielded  up  to  Him 
the  homage  and  service  of  their  lives.  And  throughout 
the  history  of  the  Church,  the  distribution  of  gifts  has 
been  equally  marked.  Chrysostom  and  Augustine, 
Jerome  and  Ambrose,  Bernard  and  Anselm,  were  all 
of  the  same  stock,  but  not  of  the  same  type.  At  the 
Reformation  men  of  marked  individuality  were  pro- 
vided for  every  country.  Germany  had  Luther  and 
Melancthon;  France,  Calvin  and  Coligny;  Switzerland, 
Zwingle  and  Farel,  Viret  and  (Ecolampadius  ;  Poland, 
A-Lasco;  Scotland,  Knox;  England,  Cranmer,  Latimer, 


282  THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 


and  Hooper.  The  missionary  field  has  in  like  manner 
been  provided  for.  India  has  had  her  Schwartz,  her 
Carey,  her  Duff,  and  a  host  of  others ;  China  her 
Morrison,  Burmah  her  Judson,  Polynesia  her  Williams, 
Africa  her  Livingstone.  The  most  unattractive  and 
inhospitable  spots  have  been  supplied.  Greenland  was 
not  too  cold  for  the  Moravians,  nor  the  leper-stricken 
communities  of  India  or  Africa  too  repulsive.  And 
never  were  Christian  men  more  disposed  than  to-day 
to  honour  that  great  Christian  law  of  distribution — 
*'  Go  ye  into  all  the  world,  and  preach  the  gospel  to 
every  creature." 

It  was  a  great  providential  law,  therefore,  that  was 
recognised  in  the  partition  of  the  land  of  Canaan  among 
the  tribes.  Provision  was  thus  made  for  so  scattering 
the  people  that  they  should  occupy  the  whole  country, 
and  become  adapted  to  the  places  where  they  settled, 
and  to  the  pursuits  proper  to  them.  Even  where  there 
seems  to  us  to  have  been  a  mere  random  distribution 
of  places,  there  may  have  been  underlying  adaptations 
for  them,  or  possibilities  of  adaptation  known  only  to 
God  ;  at  all  events  the  law  of  adaptation  would  take 
effect,  by  which  a  man  becomes  adapted  and  attached 
to  the  place  that  not  only  gives  him  a  home  but  the 
means  of  living,  and  by  which,  too,  he  becomes  a  greater 
adept  in  the  methods  of  work  which  ensure  success. 

3.  Still  further,  in  the  allocation  of  the  tribes  in 
their  various  territories  we  have  an  instance  of  the 
way  in  which  God  designed  the  earth  to  minister  most 
effectually  to  the  wants  of  man.  We  do  not  say  that 
the  method  now  adopted  in  Canaan  was  the  only  plan 
of  distributing  land  that  God  ever  sanctioned  ;  very 
probably  it  was  the  same  method  as  had  prevailed 
among  the  Canaanites ;    but  it  is  beyond  doubt  that, 


xv.-xix.]       THE  DISTRIBUTION  OF  THE  LAND.  283 


such  as  it  was,   it  was  sanctioned    by  God    for    His 
chosen  people. 

It  was  a  system  of  peasant  proprietorship.  The 
whole  landed  property  of  the  country  was  divided 
among  the  citizens.  Each  freeborn  Israelite  was  a 
landowner,  possessing  his  estate  by  a  tenure,  which, 
so  long  as  the  constitution  was  observed,  rendered  its 
permanent  alienation  from  his  family  impossible.  At 
the  fiftieth  year,  the  year  of  jubilee,  every  inheritance 
returned,  free  of  all  encumbrance,  to  the  representa- 
tives of  the  original  proprietor.  The  arrangement  was 
equally  opposed  to  the  accumulation  of  overgrown 
properties  in  the  hands  of  the  few,  and  to  the  loss 
of  all  property  on  the  part  of  the  many.  The  extremes 
of  wealth  and  poverty  were  alike  checked  and  dis- 
couraged, and  the  lot  eulogised  by  Agur — a  moderate 
competency,  neither  poverty  nor  riches,  became  the 
general  condition  of  the  citizens. 

It  is  difficult  to  tell  what  extent  of  land  fell  to  each 
family.  The  portion  of  the  land  divided  by  Joshua 
has  been  computed  at  twenty-five  million  acres.  ^  Divid- 
ing this  by  600,000,  the  probable  number  oi  families 
at  the  time  of  the  settlement,  we  get  forty-two  acres 
as  the  average  size  of  each  property.  For  a  Roman 
citizen,  seven  acres  was  counted  enough  to  yield  a 
moderate  maintenance,  so  that  even  in  a  country  of 
ordinary  productiveness  the  extent  of  the  Hebrew 
farms  would,  before  further  subdivision  became  neces- 
sary, have  been  ample.  When  the  population  increased 
the  inheritance  would  of  course  have  to  be  subdivided. 
But  for  several  generations  this,  so  far  from  an  incon- 
venience, would  be  a  positive  benefit.     It  would  bring 


'  See  Wines  on  the  "  Laws  of  the  Ancient  Hebrews,"  p.  388. 


284  THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA, 


about  a  more  complete  development  of  the  resources 
of  the  soil.  The  great  rule  of  the  Divine  economy  was 
thus  honoured — nothing  was  lost. 

There  is  no  reason  to  suppose  that  the  peasant 
proprietorship  of  the  Israelites  induced  a  stationary 
and  stagnant  condition  of  society,  or  reduced  it  to  one 
uniform  level — a  mere  conglomeration  of  men  of  uniform 
wealth,  resources,  and  influence.  Though  the  land  was 
divided  equally  at  first,  it  could  not  remain  so  divided 
long.  In  the  course  of  providence,  when  the  direct 
heirs  failed,  or  when  a  man  married  a  female  proprietor, 
two  or  more  properties  would  belong  to  a  single  family. 
Increased  capital,  skill  and  industry,  or  unusual  success 
in  driving  out  the  remaining  Canaanites,  would  tend 
further  to  the  enlargement  of  properties.  Accordingly 
we  meet  with  "  men  of  great  possessions,"  like  Jair 
the  Gileadite,  Boaz  of  Bethlehem,  Nabal  of  Carmel,  or 
Barzillai  the  Gileadite,  even  in  the  earlier  periods  of 
Jewish  history.-^  There  was  a  sufficient  number  of  men 
of  wealth  to  give  a  pleasing  variety  and  healthful  impulse 
to  society,  without  producing  the  evils  of  enormous 
accumulation  on  the  one  hand,  or  frightful  indigence 
on  the  other.^ 

We  in  this  country,  after  reaching  the  extreme  on 
the  opposite  side,  are  now  trying  to  get  back  in  the 
direction  of  this  ancient  system.  All  parties  seem  now 
agreed  that  something  of  the  nature  of  peasant  pro- 
prietorship is  necessary  to  solve  the  agrarian  problem 
in  Ireland  and  in  Great  Britain  too.  It  is  only  the 
fact  that  in  Britain  commercial  enterprise  and  emigration 
afford  so  many  outlets  for  the  energies  of  our  landless 

*  Judg.  X.  4;  Ruth  ii.  I  ;  i  Sam.  xxv.  2;  2  Sam.  xvii.  27. 
^  See  the  author's  esszy  "  An  Old  Key  to  our  Social  Problems  "  in 
"  Counsel  and  Cheer  for  the  Battle  of  Life." 


xv.-xix.]       THE  DISTRIBUTION  OF  THE  LAND.  285 

countrymen  that  has  tolerated  the  abuses  of  property 
so  long  among  us, — the  laws  of  entail  and  primogeniture, 
the  accumulation  of  property  far  beyond  the  power  of 
the  proprietor  to  oversee  or  to  manage,  the  employ- 
ment of  land  agents  acting  solely  for  the  proprietor, 
and  without  that  sense  of  responsibility  or  that  interest 
in  the  welfare  of  the  people  which  is  natural  to  the 
proprietor  himself  It  is  little  wonder  that  theories 
of  land-possession  have  risen  up  which  are  as  impractic- 
able in  fact  as  they  are  wild  and  lawless  in  principle. 
Such  desperate  imaginations  are  the  fruit  of  despair — 
absolute  hopelessness  of  getting  back  in  any  other  way 
to  a  true  land  law, — to  a  state  of  things  in  which  the 
land  would  yield  the  greatest  benefit  to  the  whole 
nation.  Not  only  ought  it  to  supply  food  and  promote 
health,  but  also  a  familiarity  with  nature,  and  a  sense  of 
freedom,  and  thus  produce  contentment  and  happiness, 
and  a  more  kindly  feeling  among  all  classes.  It  seems 
to  us  one  of  the  most  interesting  features  of  the 
land  law  recently  brought  in  for  Ireland  that  it  tends 
towards  an  arrangement  of  the  land  in  the  direction 
of  God's  early  designs  regarding  it.  If  it  be  feasible 
for  Ireland,  why  not  have  it  for  England  and  Scot- 
land ?  Some  may  scout  such  matters  as  purely 
secular,  and  not  only  unworthy  of  the  interference 
of  religious  men,  but  when  advocated  by  them  as 
fitted  to  prejudice  spiritual  religion.  It  is  a  narrow 
view.  All  that  is  right  is  religious ;  all  that  is 
according  to  the  will  of  God  is  spiritual.  Whatever 
tends  to  realize  the  prayer  of  Agur  is  good  for  rich 
and  poor  alike  :  ''  Give  me  neither  poverty  nor  riches  ; 
feed  me  with  food  convenient  for  me." 

4.   Lastly,  in   the   arrangements   for  the  distribution 
of  the  land  among  the  twelve  tribes    we  may  note  a 


286  THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 

proof  of  God's  interest  in  tlie  temporal  comfort  and 
prosperity  of  men.  It  is  not  God  that  has  created  the 
antithesis  of  secular  and  spiritual,  as  if  the  two  interests 
were  like  a  see-saw,  so  that  whenever  the  one  went 
up  the  other  must  go  down.  Things  in  this  world 
are  made  to  be  enjoyed,  and  the  enjoyment  of  them 
is  agreeable  to  the  will  of  God,  provided  we  use 
them  as  not  abusing  them.  If  Scripture  condemns 
indulgence  in  the  pleasures  of  life,  it  is  when  these 
pleasures  are  preferred  to  the  higher  joys  of  the  Spirit, 
or  when  they  are  allowed  to  stand  in  the  way  of  a 
nobler  life  and  a  higher  reward.  In  ordinary  circum- 
stances God  intends  men  to  be  fairly  comfortable  ;  He 
does  not  desire  life  to  be  a  perpetual  struggle,  or  a 
dismal  march  to  the  grave.  The  very  words  in  which 
Christ  counsels  us  to  consider  the  lilies  and  the  ravens, 
instead  of  worrying  ourselves  about  food  and  clothing, 
show  this ;  for,  under  the  Divine  plan,  the  ravens  are 
comfortably  fed,  and  the  lilies  are  handsomely  clothed. 
This  is  the  Divine  plan  ;  and  if  those  who  enjoy  a 
large  share  of  the  comforts  of  life  are  often  selfish  and 
worldly,  it  is  only  another  proof  how  much  a  wrong 
spirit  may  pervert  the  gifts  of  God  and  turn  them  to 
evil.  The  characteristic  of  a  good  man,  when  he  enjoys 
a  share  of  worldly  prosperity,  is,  that  he  does  not  let 
the  world  become  his  idol, — it  is  his  servant,  it  is  under 
his  feet ;  he  jealously  guards  against  its  becoming  his 
master.  His  effort  is  to  make  a  friend  of  the  mammon 
of  unrighteousness,  and  to  turn  every  portion  of  it  with 
which  he  may  be  entrusted  to  such  a  use  for  the  good 
of  others,  that  when  at  last  he  gives  in  his  account,  as 
steward  to  his  Divine  Master,  he  may  do  so  with  joy, 
and  not  with  grief. 


CHAPTER   XXIV. 

THE  INHERITANCE  OF  JUDAH} 
Joshua  xv. 

JUDAH  was  the  imperial  tribe,  and  it  was  fitting 
that  he  should  be  planted  in  a  conspicuous  territory. 
Even  if  the  republic  had  not  been  destined  to  give 
place  to  the  monarchy,  some  pre-eminence  was  due  to 
the  tribe  which  had  inherited  the  patriarchal  blessing, 
and  from  which  He  was  to  come  in  whom  all  the 
families  of  the  earth  were  to  be  blessed.  Judah  and 
the  sons  of  Joseph  seem  to  have  obtained  their  settle- 

'  We  do  not  encumber  our  exposition  with  a  discussion  of  the 
extraordinary  theory  of  Wellhausen,  to  the  effect  that  Judah  and 
Simeon,  with  Levi,  were  the  first  to  cross  the  Jordan  and  attack  the 
Canaanites ;  that  Simeon  and  Levi  were  all  but  annihilated  ;  that 
Joshua,  who  belonged  to  the  tribe  of  Ephraim,  did  little  more  than 
settle  that  tribe ;  and  that  there  was  hardly  such  a  thing  as  united 
action  by  the  tribes,  most  of  them  having  acted  and  fought  at  their 
own  hand.  This  theory  rests  professedly  on  the  ground  that  Judges  i, 
is  a  more  true  and  trustworthy  account  of  the  settlement  than  the 
narrative  of  Joshua.  It  is  a  strange  proof  of  the  greater  truthful- 
ness of  Judges  that,  according  to  this  theory,  its  very  first  statement 
should  be  a  lie — "It  came  to  pass  after  the  death  of  Joshua!'''  The 
narrative  of  Judges  naturally  follows  that  of  Joshua  because  it  is 
plain  that  while  Joshua  secured  for  his  people  standing  ground  in  the 
country,  he  did  not  secure  undisturbed  possession.  Joshua  set  them 
an  example  of  faith  and  courage  which,  if  followed  up  by  them,  would 
have  secured  undisturbed  possession  ;  but  with  few  exceptions  they 
preferred  to  tolerate  the  Canaanites  at  their  side,  instead  of  making 
a  vigorous  effort  to  dispossess  them  wholly. 

287 


288  THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 


ments  not  only  before  the  other  tribes,  but  in  a  different 
manner.  They  did  not  obtain  them  by  lot,  but  appar- 
ently by  their  own  choice  and  by  early  possession. 
Judah  was  not  planted  in  the  heart  of  the  country. 
That  position  was  gained  by  Ephraim  and  Manasseh, 
the  children  of  Joseph,  while  Judah  obtained  the 
southern  section.  In  this  position  his  influence  was 
not  so  commanding  at  first  as  it  would  have  been 
had  he  occupied  the  centre.  The  portion  taken  posses- 
sion of  by  Judah  had  belonged  to  the  first  batch  of 
kings  that  Joshua  subdued, — the  kings  that  came  up 
to  take  vengeance  on  the  Gibeonites.  What  was  first 
assigned  to  Judah  was  too  large,  and  the  tribe  of 
Simeon  got  accommodation  within  his  lot  (chap.  xix.  9). 
Dan  also  obtained  several  cities  that  had  first  been 
given  to  Judah  (comp.  chaps,  xv.  21-62  and  xix.  40-46). 
In  point  of  fact,  Judah  ere  long  swallowed  up  a  great 
part  of  Simeon  and  Dan,  and  Benjamin  was  so  hemmed 
in  between  him  and  Ephraim  that,  while  Jerusalem  was 
situated  within  the  limits  of  Benjamin,  it  was,  for  all 
practical  purposes,  a  city  of  Judah. 

The  territory  of  Judah  was  not  pre-eminently  fruitful; 
it  was  not  equal  in  this  respect  to  that  of  Ephraim  and 
Manasseh.  It  had  some  fertile  tracts,  but  a  consider- 
able part  of  it  was  mountainous  and  barren.  It  was 
of  four  descriptions — the  hill  country,  the  valley  or  low 
country,  the  south,  and  the  wilderness.  ''The  hill 
country,"  says  Dean  Stanley,  **is  the  part  of  Palestine 
which  best  exemplifies  its  characteristic  scenery ;  the 
rounded  hills,  the  broad  valleys,  the  scanty  vegetation, 
the  villages  and  fortresses  sometimes  standing,  more 
frequently  in  ruins,  on  the  hill  tops ;  the  wells  in  every 
valley,  the  vestiges  of  terraces  whether  for  corn  or  wine." 
Here  the  lion  of  the  tribe  of  Judah  entrenched  himself. 


XV.]  THE  INHERITANCE  OF  JUDAH.  289 

to  guard  the  southern  frontier  of  the  Chosen  Land,  with 
Simeon,  Dan,  and  Benjamin  nestled  around  him.  Well 
might  he  be  so  named  in  this  wild  country,  more  than 
half  a  wilderness,  the  lair  of  savage  beasts,  of  which 
the  traces  gradually  disappear  as  we  advance  into  the 
interior.  Fixed  there,  and  never  dislodged,  except  by 
the  ruin  of  the  whole  nation,  '^  he  lay  down,  he  couched 
as  a  lion,  and  as  an  old  lion ;  who  shall  rouse  him  up  ?  " 
Many  parts  of  Judah  were  adapted  for  the  growth  of 
corn  :  witness  Bethlehem,  *'  the  house  of  bread."  But 
the  cultivation  of  the  vine  was  pre-eminently  the  feature 
of  the  tribe.  *'  Here  more  than  elsewhere  in  Palestine 
are  to  be  seen  on  the  sides  of  the  hills  the  vineyards, 
marked  by  their  v/atch-towers  and  walls,  seated  on  their 
ancient  terraces,  the  earliest  and  latest  symbol  of  Judah. 
The  elevation  of  the  hills  and  table-lands  of  Judah  is 
the  true  climate  of  the  vine.  He  '  bound  his  foal  unto 
the  vine,  and  his  ass's  colt  unto  the  choice  vine ;  he 
washed  his  garments  in  wine,  and  his  clothes  in  the 
blood  of  grapes.'  It  was  from  the  Judsean  valley  of 
Eshcol,  'the  torrent  of  the  cluster,'  that  the  spies  cut 
down  the  gigantic  cluster  of  grapes.  *  A  vineyard  on 
a  "hill  of  olives'"  with  the  'fence,'  and  'the  stones 
gathered  out,'  and  the  tower  in  '  the  midst  of  it,'  is  the 
natural  figure  which  both  in  the  prophetical  and  evan- 
gelical records  represents  the  kingdom  of  Judah.  The 
'  vine '  was  the  emblem  of  the  nation  on  the  coins  of 
the  Maccabees,  and  in  the  colossal  cluster  of  golden 
grapes  which  overhung  the  porch  of  the  second  Temple; 
and  the  grapes  of  Judah  still  mark  the  tombstones  of 
the  Hebrew  race  in  the  oldest  of  their  European 
cemeteries  at   Prague."  ^ 

*  Stanley's  "Sinai  and  Palestine." 

19 


290  THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 

The  chapter  now  before  us  has  a  particularly  barren 
look ;  but  if  we  examine  it  with  care  we  shall  find  it 
not  deficient  in  elements  of  interest. 

I.  First,  we  have  an  elaborate  delineation  of  the 
boundaries  of  the  territory  allotted  to  Judah.  It  is  not 
difficult  to  follow  the  boundary  line  in  the  main,  though 
some  of  the  names  cannot  be  identified  now.  The 
southern  border  began  at  the  wilderness  of  Zin,  where 
the  host  had  been  encamped  more  than  forty  years 
before,  when  the  twelve  spies  returned  with  their  report 
of  the  land.  The  line  moved  in  a  south-westerly  course 
till  it  reached  '*  the  river  of  Egypt "  and  the  sea  shore. 
What  this  ''river  of  Egypt"  was  is  far  from  clear. 
Naturally  one  thinks  of  the  Nile,  the  only  stream  that 
seems  to  be  entitled  to  such  an  appellation.  On  the 
other  hand,  the  term  translated  ''river"  is  commonly 
though  not  always,  applied  to  brooks  or  shallow 
torrents,  and  hence  it  has  been  thought  to  denote  a 
brook,  now  called  El  Arish,  about  midway  in  the  desert 
between  Gaza  and  the  Pelusiac  mouth  of  the  Nile. 
While  we  incline  to  the  former  view,  we  own  that 
practically  the  question  is  of  little  consequence;  the 
only  difference  being  that  if  the  boundary  reached  to 
the  Nile,  it  included  a  larger  share  of  the  desert  than 
if  it  had  a  more  northerly  limit.  The  Dead  Sea  was 
the  chief  part  of  the  eastern  frontier.  The  northern 
boundary  began  near  Gilgal,  and  stretched  westwards 
to  the  Mediterranean  by  a  line  that  passed  just  south 
of  Jerusalem, 

The  position  of  Judah  was  peculiar,  in  respect  of  the 
enemies  by  whom  he  was  surrounded.  On  his  eastern 
frontier,  close  to  the  Dead  Sea,  he  was  in  contact  with 
Moab,  and  on  the  south  with  Edom,  the  descendants 
of  Esau.     On  the  south-west  were  the  Amalekites  of 


XV.]  THE  INHERITANCE  OF  JUDAH  291 

the  desert ;  and  on  the  west  the  PhiHstines,  and  pre- 
eminent among  them,  until  Caleb  subdued  them,  the 
sons  of  Anak,  the  giants.  On  his  extreme  north,  but 
within  the  tribe  of  Benjamin,  was  the  great  fortress 
of  the  Jebusites.  It  was  no  bed  of  roses  that  was 
thus  prepared  for  the  lion  of  the  tribe  of  Judah.  If 
he  should  rule  at  all,  he  must  rule  in  the  midst  of 
his  enemies.  Hemmed  in  by  fierce  foes  on  every  side, 
he  needed  to  show  his  prowess  if  he  was  to  prevail 
against  them.  It  was  the  necessity  of  contending  with 
these  and  other  enemies  that  developed  the  military 
genius  of  David  (i  Sam.  xvii.  50,  xviii.  5,  17,  27, 
xxvii.  8),  and  made  him  the  fitting  type  of  the  heavenly 
warrior  who  goes  forth  ^'  conquering  and  to  conquer." 
The  vigilance  that  was  needed  to  keep  these  enemies 
at  bay  was  one  means  of  preserving  the  vigour  and 
independence  of  the  tribe.  Living  thus  in  the  very 
heart  of  foes,  Judah  was  the  better  fitted  to  symbolize 
the  Church  of  Christ,  as  she  is  usually  found  when 
faithful  to  her  high  calling.  ^'  Behold,  I  send  you  forth 
as  sheep  in  the  midst  of  wolves."  ''We  wrestle  not 
against  flesh  and  blood,  but  against  principalities  and 
powers,  against  the  rulers  of  the  darkness  of  this  world, 
against  spiritual  wickedness  in  high  places."  As  long 
as  the  Church  is  militant,  it  cannot  be  otherwise  ;  and 
it  little  becomes  her  either  to  complain  on  the  one 
hand,  or  be  despondent  on  the  other,  however  strong 
and  bitter  the  opposition  or  even  the  persecution  of 
her  foes. 

2.  Next,  a  little  episode  comes  into  our  narrative 
(vv.  13-19),  in  connection  with  a  special  allocation  of 
territory  within  the  tribe.  The  incident  of  Caleb  is 
rehearsed,  as  an  introduction  to  the  narrative  that 
follows,     Caleb,  on  the  strength  of  his  promise  to  drive 


292  THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 

out  the  Anakim,  had  got  Hebron  for  his  inheritance, 
and  a  portion  of  the  country  around.  Near  to  Hebron, 
but  on  a  site  now  unknown,  stood  Debir,  or  Kirjath- 
sepher,  apparently  a  stronghold  of  the  Anakim.  We 
do  not  know  the  circumstances  that  induced  Caleb 
to  put  this  place  up,  as  it  were,  to  public  competition. 
Whoever  should  capture  it  was  promised  his  daughter 
Achsah  in  marriage.  Othniel,  who  is  called  his  younger 
brother,  which  may  perhaps  mean  his  brother's  son, 
took  the  place,  and,  according  to  the  bargain,  got 
Achsah  for  his  wife.  The  capture  of  Debir  is  recorded 
twice,  here  and  in  Judges  i.  14,  15,  and  in  the  latter 
case  with  the  addition  of  an  incident  that  followed  the 
marriage,  as  if  in  both  cases  it  had  been  copied  from 
an  older  record.  Achsah  was  evidently  a  woman  who 
could  look  well  after  her  interests.  She  was  not 
satisfied  with  the  portion  of  land  that  fell  to  Othniel. 
There  was  a  certain  field  besides,  on  which  she  had 
set  her  affection,  and  which  she  induced  her  husband 
to  ask  of  Caleb.  This  he  appears  to  have  obtained. 
Then  she  herself  turned  supplicant,  and  having  gone 
to  Caleb  and  lighted  down  from  off  her  ass,^  and  Caleb 
having  said  to  her,  '^  What  wouldest  thou  ?  "  she  said 
unto  her  father,  ^'  Give  me  a  blessing ;  for  thou  hast 
given  me  a  south  land ;  give  me  also  springs  of  water." 
[**  And  she  said,  Give  me  a  blessing  (margin,  present)  ; 
for  thou  hast  set  me  in  the  land  of  the  south ;  give 
me  also   springs  of  water,"  R.V.]     Her  request  was 

'  Founding  on  the  expression,  "  having  Hghted  off  her  ass,"  some 
have  thought  that  she  feigned  to  fall  off,  and  that  her  father  coming 
to  help  her  in  the  compassionate  spirit  one  shows  in  a  case  of 
accident,  she  took  the  opportunity  to  ask  and  obtain  this  gift.  The 
explanation  is  far-fetched  if  not  foolish.  Her  dismounting  is  explained 
by  the  universal  custom  when  one  met  a  person  of  superior  rank. 
Comp.  Gen.  xxiv.  64.     See  Kitto's  "  Pictorial  Commentary." 


XV.]  THE  INHERITANCE  OF  JUDAH.  293 


granted  : — ''he  gave   her   the  upper   springs   and   the 
nether  sprmgs." 

The  incident,  though  picturesque,  is  somewhat  strange, 
and  we  naturally  ask,  why  should  it  have  a  place  in 
the  dry  narrative  of  the  settlement  ?     Possibly  for  the 
very  reason   that    what  concerns  the    settlement   was 
very  dry,  and  that  an  incident  like  this  gave  it  some- 
thing of  living  interest.     Those  who  lived  at  the  time 
must  have  had  a  special  interest  in  the  matter,  for  in 
Judges  i.  14  it  is  said  that  Achsah  moved  Othniel  to 
ask  of  her  father  ^Uhe  field"  {Heb.)^  implying  that  it 
was  a  particular  field,  well  known  to  the  public.     The 
moral  interest  of  the  narrative  is  the  light  it  throws  on 
the  generosity  of  Caleb.     His  son-in-law  asked  of  him 
a  field,  a  field  apparently  of  special  value ;  he  got  it : 
his  daughter  asked  springs  of  water,  and  she  too  gained 
her  request.     We   contrast   Caleb   with    Saul,    as    we 
afterwards  read  of  him.     In  no  such  fashion  was  David 
treated  by  his  father-in-law,  after  his  brilliant  victories 
over  the   Philistines.     So   far  was  he   from   acquiring 
field   or   fountain,    that    he    did  not   even   acquire   his 
wife : — ''  It    came  to   pass    at    the   time  when   Merab, 
Saul's  daughter,  should  have  been  given  to  David,  that 
she  was  given   unto  Adriel   the  Meholathite  to  w4fe " 
(i  Sam.  xviii.  19).     Caleb  had  another  spirit  with  him. 
He  had  the  heart  of  a  father,  he  had  a  genuine  interest 
in  his  daughter  and  son-in-law,  and  desired  to  see  them 
comfortable  and  happy.     Kindly  and  large-hearted,  he 
at  once  transferred  to  them  valuable  possessions  that 
a  greedier  man  would  have  kept  for  himself     Evidently 
he  was  one  of  those  godlike  men  that  enjoy  giving, 
that  have  more  pleasure  in  making  others  happy  than 
in    multiplying   their   own    store.      *'The   liberal   man 
deviseth  liberal  things,  and  by  liberal  things  shall  he 


294  THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 

stand."  ''There  is  that  scattereth,  and  yet  increaseth; 
and  there  is  that  withholdeth  more  than  is  meet,  and 
it  tendeth  to  poverty." 

It  is  no  great  wonder  that  an  incident  which  reveals 
the  flowing  generosity  of  a  godhke  heart,  should  some- 
times be  turned  to  account  as  a  symbol  of  the  liberality 
of  God.     All    human   generosity  is   but   a  drop  from 
the  ocean  of  the  Divine  bounty,  a  faint  shadow  of  the 
inexhaustible   substance.     "If  ye   that  are  evil  know 
how  to  give  good  gifts  to  your  children,   how  much 
more  shall  your  Father  in  heaven  give  good  things  to 
them  that  ask  Him  ?  "     If  in  the  earthly  father's  bosom 
there  be  that  interest  in  the  welfare   of  his   children 
which  is  eager  to  help  them  where  help  is  needed  and 
it  is  in  his  power  to  give  it,  how  much  more  in  the 
bosom   of  the   Father  in   heaven  ?     Why  should   any 
be  backward  to  apply  to   Him — to  say  to   Him,  like 
Achsah,  ''Give  me  a  blessing"?     It  pleases  Him   to 
see  His  children  reposing  trust  in  Him,  believing  in 
His  infinite  love.     All  that  He  asks  of  us  is  to  come 
to    Him    through    Jesus    Christ,    acknowledging    our 
unworthiness,  and  pleading  the  merit  of  His  sacrifice 
and  intercession,  as  our  only  ground  of  acceptance  in 
His  sight.     After  His  revelation  of  His  grace  in  Christ 
our  requests  cannot    be   restricted    to  mere    temporal 
things ;    when   we  ask   a  blessing  it  must  be   one   of 
higher  scope  and  quality.     Yet  such  is  His  bounty  that 
nothing  can  be  withheld  that  is  really  for  our  good. 
"  No  good  thing  will  the  Lord  withhold  from  them  that 
walk  uprightly."     "Prove  me  now  herewith,  saith  the 
Lord ;  if  I  will  not  open  to  you  the  windows  of  heaven, 
and  pour  you  out  a  blessing  that  there  shall  not  be 
room  enough  to  receive  it." 

3.  We  leave  this   picturesque   incident    to   re-enter 


XV.]  THE  INHERITANCE  OF  JUDAH.  295 

the  wilderness  of  unfamiliar  names.  We  find  a  list  of 
no  fewer  than  a  hundred  and  fifteen  cities  which  lay 
within  the  confines  of  the  tribe  of  Judah  (vv.  21-32). 
They  fall  into  four  divisions.  First,  tw^enty-nine  cities 
belonged  to  *'  the  south  " — the  "  Negeb"  of  the  Hebrews, 
the  part  of  the  country  which  bordered  on  the  desert, 
and  to  some  degree  partook  of  its  character.  Cities 
they  are  called,  but  few  of  them  were  more  than  villages, 
and  hardly  any  were  important  enough  to  leave  their 
mark  on  the  history.  There  are  two,  however,  having 
memorable  associations  with  men  of  mark,  the  one 
carrying  us  back  to  a  glorious  past,  the  other  forward 
to  a  disgraceful  future.  Strange  association — Abraham 
and  Judas  Iscariot  I  With  Beersheba  the  name  of 
Abraham  is  imperishably  associated,  as  well  as  the 
name  of  Isaac.  And  to  this  day  the  ver}^  name  Beer- 
sheba seems  to  emit  a  holy  fragrance.  With  Kerioth 
(ver.  25)  we  connect  the  traitor  Judas — the  Is-cariot  of 
the  New  Testament  being  equivalent  to  Ish-Kerioth, 
a  man  of  Kerioth,  of  the  Old.  Our  heart  fills  with 
a  sense  of  nausea  as  we  recall  the  association.  The 
traitor  was  doubly  connected  with  the  tribe  of  Judah, 
— by  his  name  and  by  his  birthplace.  What  mockery 
of  a  noble  name  1  ''Judah,  thou  art  he  whom  thy 
brethren  shall  praise."  What  contrast  could  be  greater 
than  that  between  the  Judah  who  surrendered  himself 
to  slavery  to  set  his  brother  free,  and  the  Judah  who 
sold  his  Lord  for  thirty  pieces  of  silver  !  What  extremes 
of  character  may  we  find  under  the  same  name,  and 
often  in  the  same  family !  Strange  that  so  few  are 
drawn  by  the  example  of  the  noble,  and  so  many  follow 
the  course  of  the  vile  ! 

The  next   division,    ''the   valley,"   the   lowland,    or 
Shephelah,    embraced   three   subdivisions — the   north- 


296  THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 

eastern  Shephelah  with  her  fourteen  towns  (vv.  33-36), 
the  middle,  with  sixteen  (vv.  37-41),  and  the  southern, 
with  nine  (vv.  42-44)  ;  to  which  are  added  three  of 
the  cities  of  the  PhiHstines, — Ekron,  Ashdod,  and  Gaza 
(vv.  45-47).  Many  of  the  places  in  this  list  became 
famous  in  the  history.  Eshtaol  and  Zorah  were  of 
note  in  the  history  of  Samson,  but  in  his  time  they 
were  Danite  settlements.  Jarmuth,  Lachish,  Eglon,  and 
Makkedah  had  been  conspicuous  in  Joshua's  great  battle 
of  Bethhoron.  Adullam  and  Keilah  figured  afterwards 
in  David's  outlaw  history,  and  Ashdod  and  Ekron  were 
two  of  the  Philistine  cities  to  which  the  ark  was  taken 
after  the  battle  of  Ebenezer  and  Aphek(i  Sam.  iv.  i,  v. 
I,  10).  In  later  years  Lachish  and  Libnah  were  among 
the  places  attacked  by  Sennacherib,  King  of  Assyria,  in 
his  great  raid  upon  the  country  (Isa.  xxxvii.  8). 

The  third  great  group  of  cities  were  those  of  "  the 
mountain,"  or  highlands.  These  were  mostly  in  the 
central  part  of  the  territory,  on  the  plateau  or  ridge 
that  runs  along  it,  rising  up  from  the  valley  of  the 
Dead  Sea  on  the  east,  and  the  Shephelah,  or  '^  valley," 
on  the  west.  Here  there  were  four  groups  of  cities  : 
eleven  on  the  south-west  (vv.  48-51),  nine  farther 
north  (vv.  52-54),  ten  to  the  east  (vv.  55-57),  and  six 
to  the  north  (vv.  58,  59),  along  with  Kirjath-baal 
and  Rabbah  in  the  same  neighbourhood.  This  group 
included  Hebron,  of  which  we  hear  so  much ;  also 
Carmel,  Maon,  and  Ziph,  conspicuous  in  the  outlaw  life 
of  David.  It  is  remarkable  that  there  is  no  mention 
of  Bethlehem,  which  lay  in  ''  the  mountain  " :  it  pro- 
bably had  not  yet  attained  to  the  rank  of  a  town.  But 
its  very  omission  may  be  regarded  as  a  proof  of  the 
contemporaneous  date  of  the  book ;  for  soon  after 
Bethlehem  was  a  well-known  place  (Ruth  i. — iv.),  and 


XV.]  THE  INHERITANCE  OF  JUDAH.  297 

if  the  Book  of  Joshua  had  been  written  at  the  late 
date  sometimes  assigned  to  it,  that  city  could  not  have 
failed  to  have  a  place  in  the  enumeration. 

A  fourth  group  of  cities  were  in  ^'  the  wilderness  "  or 
Migdar.  This  was  a  wild  rocky  region  extending 
between  the  Dead  Sea  and  the  mountains  of  Hebron. 
"  It  is  a  plateau  of  white  chalk,  terminated  on  the  east 
by  cliffs  which  rise  vertically  from  the  Dead  Sea  shore 
to  a  height  of  about  two  thousand  feet.  The  scenery 
is  barren  and  wild  beyond  all  description.  The  chalky 
ridges  are  scored  by  innumerable  torrents,  and  their 
narrow  crests  are  separated  by  broad,  flat  valleys. 
Peaks  and  knolls  of  fantastic  forms  rise  suddenly  from 
the  swelling  downs,  and  magnificent  precipices  of  rugged 
limestone  stand  up  like  fortress  walls  above  the  sea. 
Not  a  tree  nor  a  spring  is  visible  in  the  waste  ;  and 
only  the  desert  partridge  and  the  ibex  are  found  ranging 
the  solitude."^  This  district  was  in  large  measure  the 
scene  of  David's  wanderings,  and  well  might  he  call  it 
^*  a  dry  and  thirsty  land  where  there  is  no  water " 
(Psalm  Ixiii.  i).  It  was  also  the  scene  of  the  preaching 
of  John  the  Baptist,  at  least  at  the  beginning  (Matt. 
iii.  i);  for  when  the  administration  of  baptism  became 
common,  it  was  necessary  for  him  to  remove  to  a  better- 
watered  region  (John  iii.  23).  There  is  some  reason 
to  believe  that  it  was  also  the  scene  of  our  Lord's 
temptation  (Matt.  iv.  i),  the  more  especially  because 
one  of  the  Evangelists  has  said  that  "  He  was  there 
with  the  wild  beasts  "  (Mark  i.  12). 

Only  six  cities  are  enumerated  as  ''  in  the  wilder- 
ness "  (vv.  61,  62),  so  that  its  population  must  have 
been  very  small.  And  of  those  mentioned  some  are 
wholly  unknown.     The  most  interesting  of  the  six  is 

'  Conder's  "  Handbook  to  the  Bible,"  pp.  213,  214. 


298  THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA, 

Engedi,  which  derived  its  name  from  a  celebrated 
fountain,  meaning  *'  fountain  of  the  kid."  It  is  noted 
as  one  of  the  hiding-places  of  David  ;  Saul  pursued 
him  to  it,  and  it  was  there  that  David  spared  his 
life  when  he  found  him  in  a  cave  (i  Sam.  xxiv.). 
Solomon  extols  its  vineyards  and  its  camphire  (Song 
of  Solomon  i.  14)  [henna-flowers,  R.V.],  Josephus  its 
balsam  (Ant.,  ix.  i,  §  2),  and  Pliny  its  palms  (v.  17). 
In  ancient  times  it  was  the  site  of  a  town,  and  in  the 
fourth  century,  in  Jerome's  time,  there  was  still  a  con- 
siderable village ;  now,  however,  there  is  no  trace  of 
anything  of  the  kind.  Sir  Walter  Scott,  in  the  ''  Talis- 
man," makes  it  the  abode  of  a  Christian  hermit — 
Theodoric  of  Engaddi.  It  is  situated  near  the  middle 
of  the  western  shore  of  the  Dead  Sea.  A  rich  plain, 
half  a  mile  square,  slopes  gently  from  the  base  of 
the  mountains  to  the  sea ;  and  about  a  mile  up  the 
western  acclivity,  four  hundred  feet  above  the  plain, 
is  the  fountain  of  Ain  Jiddy,  from  which  the  place  gets 
its  name. 

Such,  then,  was  the  distribution  of  the  cities  of 
Judah  over  the  four  sections  of  the  territory,  the  south, 
the  Shephelah,  the  highlands,  and  the  wilderness.  It 
was  an  ample  and  varied  domain,  and  after  Caleb 
expelled  the  Anakim,  there  seems  to  have  been  little 
or  no  opposition  to  the  occupation  of  the  whole  by 
the  tribe.  But  ''  the  crook  in  the  lot "  was  not  wanting. 
The  great  Jebusite  fortress,  Jerusalem,  was  on  the  very 
edge  of  the  northern  boundary  of  Judah.  Nominally, 
as  we  have  said,  Jerusalem  was  in  the  territory  of 
Benjamin,  but  really  it  was  a  city  of  Judah.  For  it  is 
said  (ver.  63),  "  As  for  the  Jebusites,  the  children  of 
Judah  could  not  drive  them  out ;  but  the  Jebusites 
dwell  with  the  children  of  Judah  at  Jerusalem  unto  this 


XV.]  THE  INHERITANCE  OF  JUDAH.  299 


day."  ^  For  some  reason  Joshua  had  omitted  to  take 
possession  of  this  stronghold  after  the  battle  of  Beth- 
horon.  The  stream  of  pursuit  had  gone  westward, 
and  the  opportunity  of  taking  Jerusalem  when  the 
king  had  been  slain  and  his  army  cut  to  pieces,  was 
lost.  And  just  as  in  modern  history,  when  the  oppor- 
tunity of  taking  Sebastopol  was  lost  after  the  battle 
of  the  Alma,  and  a  long,  harassing  and  most  disastrous 
siege  had  to  be  resorted  to,  so  it  was  with  Jerusalem  ; 
the  Jebusites,  recovering  their  spirits  after  the  defeat, 
were  able  to  hold  it,  and  to  defy  the  tribe  of  Judah, 
and  all  the  tribes,  for  many  a  long  year.  While  the 
fortress  was  held  by  the  Jebusites,  Jew  and  Jebusite 
dwelt  together  in  the  city,  leading  no  doubt  a  comfort- 
less life,  neither  the  one  nor  the  other  feeling  truly  at 
home. 

The  moral  is  not  far  to  seek.  There  is  a  crisis  in 
some  men's  lives,  when  they  come  under  the  power 
of  religion,  and  feel  the  obligation  to  live  to  God.  If 
they  had  decision  and  courage  enough  at  this  crisis  to 
break  off  all  sinful  habits  and  connections,  to  renounce 
all  unchristian  ways  of  life,  to  declare  with  Joshua, 
*'  As  for  me  and  my  house,  we  will  serve  the  Lord," — 
they  would  no  doubt  experience  a  sharp  opposition, 
but  it  would  pass  over,  and  peace  would  come.  But 
often  they  hesitate,  and  shrink,  and  cower ;  they  cannot 
endure  opposition  and  ridicule ;  they  retain  religion 
enough  to  appease  their  consciences,  but  not  to  give 
them  satisfaction  and  joy.  It  is  another  case  of  the 
men  of  Judah  dwelling  with  the  Jebusites,  and  with 
the  same  result ;  they  are  not  happy,  they  are  not  at 
rest ;  they  bring  little  or  no  honour  to  their  Master, 
and  they  have  little  influence  on  the  world  for  good. 

'  A  proof  that  Joshua  was  written  before  the  time  of  David. 


CHAPTER   XXV. 

THE  INHERITANCE  OF  JOSEPH. 
Joshua  xvi.,  xvii. 

NEXT  to  Judah,  the  most  important  tribe  was 
Joseph ;  that  is,  the  double  tribe  to  which  his 
two  sons  gave  names,  Ephraim  and  Manasseh.  In 
perpetual  acknowledgment  of  the  service  rendered  b}^ 
Joseph  to  the  family,  by  keeping  them  alive  in  the 
famine,  it  was  ordained  by  Jacob  that  his  two  sons 
should  rank  with  their  uncles  as  founders  of  tribes 
(Gen.  xlviii.  5).  It  was  also  prophetically  ordained  by 
Jacob  that  Ephraim,  the  younger  son,  should  take  rank 
before  Manasseh  (Gen.  xlviii.  19).  The  privilege  of  the 
double  portion,  however,  remained  to  Manasseh  as  the 
elder  son.  Hence,  in  addition  to  his  lot  in  Gilead  and 
Baslian,  he  had  also  a  portion  in  Western  Palestine.  But 
Ephraim  vv^as  otherwise  the  more  important  tribe ;  and 
when  the  separation  of  the  two  kingdoms  took  place, 
Ephraim  often  gave  his  name  to  the  larger  division. 
And  in  the  beautiful  prophetic  vision  of  Ezekiel,  when 
the  coming  re-union  of  the  nation  is  symbolized,  it 
is  on  this  wise  :  "  Son  of  man,  take  thou  one  stick  and 
write  upon  it,  For  Judah,  and  for  the  children  of  Israel 
his  companions ;  tlien  take  another  stick  and  write  upon 
it.  For  Joseph,  the  stick  of  Ephraim,  and  for  all  the 
house  of  Israel  his  companions,  and  join  them  for  thee 

300 


xvi.,  xvii.]         THE  INHERITANCE  OF  JOSEPH.  301 


one  to  another  into  one  stick,  that  they  may  become  one 
in  thine  hand  "  (xxxvii.  16,  17).  The  superiority  allotted 
to  Ephraim  was  not  followed  by  very  happy  results ;  it 
raised  an  arrogant  spirit  in  that  tribe,  of  which  we  find 
some  indications  in  the  present  chapter,  but  more  pro- 
nounced and  mischievous  manifestations  further  on. 

The  dehmitation  of  the  tribes  of  Ephraim  and 
Manasseh  is  not  easy  to  follow,  particularly  in  the 
Authorized  Version,  which  not  only  does  not  translate 
very  accurately,  but  uses  some  English  expressions 
of  uncertain  meaning.  The  Revised  Version  is  much 
more  helpful,  correcting  both  classes  of  defects  in  its 
predecessor.  Yet  even  the  Revised  Version  sometimes 
leaves  us  at  a  loss.  It  has  been  supposed,  indeed,  that 
some  words  have  dropped  out  of  the  text.  Moreover,  it 
has  not  been  found  possible  to  ascertain  the  position  of 
all  the  places  mentioned.  Uncertainty  as  to  the  precise 
boundaries  cannot  but  prevail,  and  differences  of  opinion 
among  commentators.  But  the  uncertaint}^  applies  only 
to  the  minuter  features  of  the  description,  it  bears  chiefly 
on  the  points  at  which  one  tribe  adjoined  another.  The 
portion  of  the  land  occupied  by  Ephraim  and  Manasseh  is, 
on  the  whole,  very  clearly  known,  just  as  their  influence 
on  the  history  of  the  country  is  very  distinctly  marked. 

In  point  of  fact,  the  lot  of  Joseph  in  Western 
Palestine  was,  in  many  respects,  the  most  desirable 
of  any.  It  was  a  fertile  and  beautiful  district.  It 
embraced  the  valley  of  Shechem,  the  first  place  of 
Abraham's  sojourn,  and  reckoned  by  travellers  to  be 
one  of  the  most  beautiful  spots,  some  say  the  most 
beautiful  spot,  in  Palestine.  Samaria,  at  the  head  of 
another  valley  celebrated  for  its  "  glorious  beauty,"  and 
for  its  '*  fatness  "  or  fertility  (Isa.  xxviii.  i),  was  at  no 
great  distance,     Tirzah,  a  symbol  of  beauty,   in   the 


302  THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 


Song  of  Solomon  (vi.  4)  was  another  of  its  cities,  as 
was  also  Jezreel,  "a  lovely  position  for  a  capital  city" 
(Tristram).  On  the  other  hand,  this  portion  of  the 
country  laboured  under  the  disadvantage  of  not  having 
been  well  cleared  of  its  original  inhabitants.  The  men 
of  Ephraim  did  not  exert  themselves  as  much  as  the 
men  of  Judah.  This  is  apparent  from  what  is  said  in 
chap.  xvi.  10,  ''They  drove  not  out  the  Canaanites  that 
dwelt  in  Gezer  " ;  and  also  from  Joshua's  answer  to  the 
request  of  Ephraim  for  more  land  (xvii.  15-18). 

As  we  have  said  already,  we  have  no  information 
regarding  Joshua's  conquest  of  this  part  of  the  country. 
It  seems  to  have  been  run  over  more  superficially  than 
the  north  and  the  south.  Consequently  the  ancient 
inhabitants  were  still  very  numerous,  and  they  were 
formidable  likewise,  because  they  had  chariots  of  iron. 

In  the  definition  of  boundaries  we  have  first  a  notice 
applicable  to  Joseph  as  a  whole,  then  specifications 
applicable  to  Ephraim  and  Manasseh  respectively.  The 
southern  border  is  delineated  twice  with  considerable 
minuteness,  and  its  general  course,  extending  from 
near  the  Jordan  at  Jericho,  past  Bethel  and  Luz,  and 
down  the  pass  of  Bethhoron  to  the  Mediterranean, 
is  clear  enough.  The  border  between  Ephraim  and 
Manasseh  is  not  so  clear,  nor  the  northern  border 
of  Manasseh.  It  is  further  to  be  remarked  that,  while 
we  have  an  elaborate  statement  of  boundaries,  we  have 
no  list  of  towns  in  Ephraim  and  Manasseh  such  as  we 
have  for  the  tribe  of  Judah.  This  gives  countenance 
to  the  supposition  that  part  of  the  ancient  record  has 
somehow  dropped  out.  We  find,  however,  another  state- 
ment about  towns  which  is  of  no  small  significance. 
At  chap.  xvi.  9  we  find  that  several  cities  were  appro- 
priated to  Ephraim  that  were  situated  in  the  territory 


xvi.,  xvii.]         THE  INHERITANCE  OF  JOSEPH.  303 

of  Manasseh.  And  in  like  manner  several  cities  were 
given  to  Manasseh  which  were  situated  in  the  tribes 
of  Issachar  and  Ashen  Of  these  last  the  names  are 
given.  They  were  Bethshean,  Ibleam,  Dor,  Endor, 
Taanach,  and  Megiddo.  Some  of  them  were  famous 
in  after  history.  Bethshean  was  the  city  to  whose 
wall  the  bodies  of  Saul  and  his  sons  were  fixed  after 
the  fatal  battle  of  Gilboa ;  Ibleam  was  in  the  neighbour- 
hood of  Naboth's  vineyard  (2  Kings  ix.  25,  27)  ;  Endor 
was  the  place  of  abode  of  the  woman  with  a  familiar 
spirit  whom  Saul  went  to  consult ;  Taanach  was  the 
battle-field  of  the  kings  of  Canaan  whom  Barak 
defeated,  and  of  whom  Deborah  sung, — 

"  The  kings  came  and  fought ; 
Then  fought  the  kings  of  Canaan, 
In  Taanach  by  the  waters  of  Megiddo : 
They  took  no  gain  of  money  "  (Judg.  v.   19). 

As  for  Megiddo,  many  a  battle  was  fought  in  its  plain. 
So  early  as  the  days  of  Thotmes  III.  of  Egypt  (about 
1600  B.C.)  it  was  famous  in  battle,  for  in  an  inscription 
on  the  temple  of  Karnak,  containing  a  record  of  his 
conquests  in  Syria,  Megiddo  flourishes  as  the  scene 
of  a  great  conflict.  The  saddest  and  most  notable 
of  its  battles  was  that  between  King  Josiah  and 
the  Egyptians,  in  which  that  good  young  king  was 
killed.  In  fact,  Megiddo  obtained  such  notoriety  as 
a  battle-field  that  in  the  Apocalypse  (xvi.  16)  Ar- 
Mageddon  (Har-magedon,  R.V.)  is  the  symbol  of 
another  kind  of  battle-ground — the  meeting-place  for 
''  the  war  of  the  great  day  of  God  the  Almighty." 

We  can  only  conjecture  why  these  cities,  most  of 
which  were  in  Issachar,  were  given  to  Manasseh. 
They  were  strongholds  in  the  great  plain  of  Esdraelon, 
where  most  of  the  great  battles  of  Canaan  were  fought. 


304  THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA, 


For  the  defence  of  the  plain  it  seemed  important  that 
these  places  should  be  held  by  a  stronger  tribe  than 
Issachar.  Hence  they  appear  to  have  been  given  to 
Mana.sseh.  But,  like  Ephraim,  Manasseh  was  not  able 
to  hold  them  at  first.  ''The  children  of  Manasseh 
could  not  drive  out  the  inhabitants  of  those  cities ; 
but  the  Canaanites  would  dwell  in  that  land.  And  it 
came  to  pass,  when  the  children  of  Israel  were  waxen 
strong  that  they  put  the  Canaanites  to  task-work,  and 
did  not  utterly  drive  them  out "  (R.V.).  This  last 
verse  appears  to  have  been  inserted  at  a  later  date, 
and  it  agrees  with  i  Chron.  vii.  29,  where  several  of 
the  same  towns  are  enumerated,  and  it  is  added,  "  In 
these  dwelt  the  children  of  Joseph,  the  son  of  Israel." 

Undoubtedly  these  sons  of  Joseph  occupied  a  position 
which  gave  them  unrivalled  opportunities  of  benefiting 
their  country.  But  with  the  exception  of  the  splendid 
exploit  of  Gideon,  a  man  of  Manasseh,  and  his  little 
band,  we  hear  of  little  in  the  history  that  redounded 
to  the  credit  of  Joseph's  descendants.  NobiHty  of 
character  is  not  hereditary.  Sometimes  nature  appears 
to  spend  all  her  intellectual  and  moral  wealth  on  the 
father,  and  almost  to  impoverish  the  sons.  And  some- 
times the  sons  live  on  the  virtues  of  their  fathers, 
and  cannot  be  roused  to  the  exertion  or  the  sacrifice 
needed  to  continue  their  work  and  maintain  their 
reputation.  A  humorous  saying  is  recorded  of  an 
eminent  pastor  of  the  Waldensian  Church  who  found 
his  people  much  disposed  to  live  on  the  reputation  of 
their  fathers,  and  tried  in  vain  to  get  them  to  do 
as  their  fathers  did;  he  said  that  they  were  like  the 
potato — the  best  part  of  them  was  under  the  ground. 
If  you  say,  ''  We  have  Abraham  for  our  father,"  take 
care  that  you  say  "it  in  the  proper  sense.     Be  sure  that 


xvi.,  xvii.]         THE  INHERITANCE  OF  JOSEPH.  305 

you  are  following  hard  in  his  footsteps,  and  using  his 
example  as  a  spur  to  move  your  languid  energies, 
and  not  as  a  screen  to  conceal  your  miserable  defects. 
If  you  think  of  Abraham  or  of  any  forefather  or 
body  of  forefathers  as  a  cover  for  your  nakedness, 
or  a  compensation  for  your  defects,  you  are  resort- 
ing to  a  device  which  has  never  proved  successful 
in  past  ages,  and  is  not  likely  to  change  its  character 
with  you. 

After  the  division,  the  vain,  self-important  spirit  of 
Ephraim  broke  out  in  a  characteristic  way.  ''Why," 
said  he  to  Joshua,  ''hast  thou  given  me  but  one  lot 
and  one  part  for  an  inheritance,  seeing  I  am  a  great 
people,  forasmuch  as  hitherto  the  Lord  hath  blessed 
me  ?  "  A  grumbling  reference  seems  to  be  made  here 
to  his  brother  Manasseh,  who  had  received  two  lots, 
one  on  each  side  of  the  Jordan.  At  first  it  appears 
that  there  was  some  reason  in  the  complaint  of  Ephraim. 
The  free  part  of  his  lot  seems  to  have  been  small,  that 
is,  the  part  not  occupied  by  Canaanites.  But  we  cannot 
think  that  the  whole  inheritance  of  Ephraim  was  so 
small  as  we  find  represented  in  the  map  of  Major 
Conder,  of  the  Palestine  Exploration  Fund,  in  his 
"Handbook  to  the  Bible,"  because  it  is  said,  both  in  the 
Authorized  and  in  the  Revised  Version,  that  his  western 
boundary  extended  to  the  sea,  while  Major  Conder 
makes  it  cease  much  sooner.  But,  looking  at  the  whole 
circumstances,  it  is  probable  that  Ephraim's  complaint 
was  dictated  by  jealousy  of  Manasseh,  who  certainly 
had  received  the  double  inheritance. 

Alas,  how  apt  is  the  spirit  of  discontent  still  to  crop 
up  when  we  compare  our  lot  with  that  of  others ! 
Were  we  quite  alone,  or  were  there  no  case  for  com- 
parison, we  might  be  content  enough ;  it  is  when  we 

20 


v) 


06  THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 


think  how  much  more  our  brother  has  than  we,  that 
we  are  most  Uable  to  murmur.  And,  bad  though 
murmuring  and  grieving  at  the  good  of  our  brother 
may  be,  it  is  by  no  means  certain  that  the  evil  spirit 
will  stop  there.  At  the  very  dawn  of  history  we  find 
Cain  the  murderer  of  his  brother  because  the  one  had 
the  favour  of  God  and  not  the  other.  What  an  evil 
feeling  it  is  that  grudges  to  our  brother  a  larger  share 
of  God's  blessing ;  if  at  the  beginning  it  be  not  kept 
under  it  may  carry  us  on  to  deeds  that  may  well  make 
us  shudder. 

Joshua  dealt  very  wisely  and  fearlessly  with  the 
complaint  of  Ephraim,  though  it  was  his  own  tribe. 
You  say  you  are  a  great  people — be  it  so ;  but  if  you 
are  a  great  people,  you  must  be  capable  of  great  deeds. 
Two  great  undertakings  are  before  you  now.  There 
are  great  woodlands  in  your  lot  that  have  not  been 
cleared — direct  your  energies  to  them,  and  they  will 
afford  you  more  room  for  settlements.  Moreover,  the 
Canaanites  are  still  in  possession  of  a  large  portion  of 
your  lot ;  up  and  attack  them  and  drive  them  out,  and 
you  will  be  furnished  with  another  area  for  possession. 
Joshua  accepted  their  estimate  of  their  importance,  but 
gave  it  a  very  different  practical  turn.  What  they  had 
wished  him  to  do  was  to  take  away  a  portion  from  some 
other  tribe  and  give  it  as  an  extra  allotment  to  them, 
so  that  it  would  be  theirs  without  labour  or  trouble. 
What  Joshua  did  was  to  spur  them  to  courageous 
and  self-denying  exertion,  in  order  that  their  object 
might  be  gained  through  the  instrumentality  of  their 
own  labour.  For  the  sickly  sentiment  that  desires  a 
mine  of  gold  to  start  into  being  and  scatter  its  untold 
treasure  at  our  feet,  he  substituted  the  manly  sentiment 
of  the    proverb,    "No    gains    without    pains."      ''The 


xvi.,  xvii.]        THE  INHERITANCE  OF  JOSEPH.  307 

soul  of  the  sluggard  desireth  and  hath  nothing ;  but 
the  hand  of  the  diligent  maketh  rich."  If  they  wished 
more  land  they  must  work  for  it ;  they  must  not  take 
idleness  for  their  patron-saint. 

We  have  all  heard  of  the  dying  father  who  informed 
his  sons  that  there  was  a  valuable  treasure  in  a  certain 
field,  and  counselled  them  to  set   to  work   to  find  it. 
With  great  care  they  turned  up  every  morsel  of  the 
soil ;     but    no    treasure    appeared,    till,    observing    in 
autumn  what  a  rich  crop  covered  the  field,  they  came 
to  understand  that  the  fruit  of  persevering  labour  was 
the  treasure  which  their  father  meant.     We  have  heard, 
too,  of  a  physician  who  was  consulted  by  a  rich  man 
suffering  cruelly  from  gout,  and  asked  if  he  had  any 
cure  for  it.     ''  Yes,"  said  the  doctor,  ^'  live  on  sixpence 
a  day,  and  work  for  it."     The  same  principle  underlay 
the  counsel  of  Joshua.     Of  course  it  gratifies  a  certain 
part  of  our  nature  to  get  a  mass  of  wealth  without 
working  for  it.      But  this  is  not  the  best  part  of  our 
nature.     Probably  in  no  class  has  the  great  object  of  life 
been  so  much  lost,  and  the  habit  of  indolence  and  self- 
indulgence  become  so  predominant  as  in  that  of  young 
men   born   to  the  possession  of  a  great   fortune,   and 
never   requiring   to    turn    a   hand    for   anything   they 
desired.     After  all,  the   necessity  of  work   is  a  great 
blessing.     We  speak  of  the  curse  of  toil,  but  except 
when  the  labour  is  excessive,  or  unhealthy  in  its  con- 
ditions, or  when  it  has  to  be  prosecuted  in   sickness 
or  failing  strength,  it  is  not  a  curse   but  a   blessing. 
Instead  of  being  ashamed   of  labour,  we   have  cause 
rather  to  be  proud  of  it.     It  guards  from  numberless 
temptations ;  it  promotes  a  healthy  body  and  a  healthy 
mind ;  it  increases  the  zest  of  life  ;  it  promotes  cheer- 
fulness and  flowing  spirits ;  it  makes  rest  and  healthy 


3o8  THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 

recreation  far  sweeter  when  they  come,  and  it  gives 
us  affinity  to  the  great  Heavenly  Worker,  by  whom, 
and  through  whom,  and  for  whom  are  all  things. 

This  great  principle  of  ordinary  life  has  its  place  too 
in  the  spiritual  economy.  The  age  is  now  past  that  had 
for  its  favourite  notion,  that  seclusion  from  the  world  and 
exemption  from  all  secular  employment  was  the  most 
desirable  condition  for  a  servant  of  God.  The  experi- 
ment of  the  hermits  was  tried,  but  it  was  a  failure. 
Seclusion  from  the  world  and  the  consecration  of  the 
whole  being  to  private  acts  of  devotion  and  piety  were 
no  success.  He  who  moves  about  among  his  fellows, 
and  day  by  day  knows  the  strain  of  labour,  is  more 
likely  to  prosper  spiritually  than  he  who  shuts  himself 
up  in  a  cell,  and  looks  on  all  secular  work  as  pollution. 
It  is  not  the  spiritual  invalid  who  is  for  ever  feeling 
his  pulse  and  whom  every  whiflf  of  wind  throws  into 
a  fever  of  alarm,  that  grows  up  to  the  full  stature  of 
the  Christian  ;  but  the  man  who,  like  Paul,  has  his 
hands  and  his  heart  for  ever  full,  and  whose  every 
spiritual  fibre  gains  strength  and  vitality  from  his 
desires  and  labours  for  the  good  of  others.  And  it 
is  with  churches  as  with  individuals.  An  idle  church 
is  a  stagnant  church,  prone  to  strife,  and  to  all  morbid 
experiences.  A  church  that  throws  itself  into  the  work 
of  faith  and  labour  of  love  is  far  more  in  the  way  to 
be  spiritually  healthy  and  strong.  It  was  not  for  the 
good  of  the  world  merely,  but  of  the  church  herself 
likewise,  that  our  Lord  gave  out  that  magnificent 
mot  d'ordrCy — "  Go  ye  into  all  the  world,  and  preach 
the  gospel  to  every  creature." 

Before  we  pass  from  the  inheritance  of  the  sons  of 
Joseph,  it  is  proper  that  we  should  direct  attention  to 
an  incident  which  may  seem  trifling  to  us,  but  which 


xvi.,  xvii.]         THE  INHERITANCE  OF  JOSEPH.  309 


was  evidently  regarded  as  of  no  little  moment  at  the 
time.  What  we  refer  to  is  the  petition  presented  by 
the  five  daughters  of  Zelophehad,  a  member  of  the 
tribe  of  Manasseh,  for  an  inheritance  in  their  tribe. 
Their  father  had  no  son,  so  that  the  family  was  repre- 
sented wholly  by  daughters.  No  fewer  than  four  times 
the  incident  is  referred  to,  and  the  names  of  the  five 
girls  given  in  full  (Numb.  xxvi.  33,  xxvii.  i-ii,  xxxvi. 
1 1  ;  Josh.  xvii.  3).  We  know  not  if  there  be  another 
case  in  Scripture  of  such  prominence  given  to  names  for 
no  moral  or  spiritual  quality,  but  simply  in  connection 
with  a  law  of  property. 

The  question  decided  by  their  case  was  the  right  of 
females  to  inherit  property  in  land  when  there  were  no 
heirs  male  in  the  family.  We  find  that  the  young  women 
themselves  had  to  be  champions  of  their  own  cause. 
Evidently  possessed  of  more  than  ordinary  spirit,  they 
had  already  presented  themselves  before  Moses,  Eleazar 
the  priest,  and  the  princes  of  the  congregation,  at  the 
door  of  the  tabernacle,  and  formally  made  a  claim  to 
the  inheritance  that  would  have  fallen  to  their  father 
had  he  been  alive.  The  case  was  deemed  of  sufficient 
importance  to  be  laid  before  the  Lord,  because  the 
decision  on  it  would  settle  similar  cases  for  the  whole 
nation  and  for  all  time.  The  decision  was,  that  in 
such  cases  the  women  should  inherit,  but  under  the 
condition  that  they  should  not  marry  out  of  their  own 
tribe,  so  that  the  property  should  not  be  transferred 
to  another  tribe.  In  point  of  fact,  the  five  sisters 
married  their  cousins,  and  thus  kept  the  property  in 
the  tribe  of  Manasseh. 

The  incident  is  interesting,  because  it  shows  a  larger 
regard  to  the  rights  of  women  than  was  usually 
conceded  at  the  time.     Some  have,  indeed,  found  fault 


110  THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 


with  the  decision  as  not  going  far  enough.  Why,  they 
have  asked,  was  the  right  of  women  to  inherit  land 
Hmited  to  cases  in  which  there  were  no  men  in  the 
family  ?  The  decision  implied  that  if  there  had  been 
one  brother,  he  would  have  got  all  the  land ;  the  sisters 
would  have  been  entitled  to  nothing.  The  answer  to 
this  objection  is,  that  had  the  rights  of  women  been 
recognised  to  this  extent,  it  would  have  been  too  great 
an  advance  on  the  public  opinion  of  the  time.  It  was 
not  God's  method  to  enjoin  laws  absolutely  perfect,  but 
to  enjoin  what  the  conscience  and  public  opinion  of  the 
time  might  be  fairly  expected  to  recognise  and  support. 
It  may  be  that  under  a  perfect  system  women  ought 
to  inherit  property  on  equal  terms  with  men.  But  the 
Jewish  nation  was  not  sufficiently  advanced  for  such 
a  law.  The  benefit  of  the  enactment  was  that,  when 
propounded,  it  met  with  general  approval. 

Certainly  it  was  a  considerable  advance  on  the 
ordinary  practice  of  the  nations.  It  estabHshed  the 
principle  that  woman  was  not  a  mere  chattel,  an  inferior 
creature,  subject  to  the  control  of  the  man,  with  no 
rights  of  her  own.  But  it  was  far  from  being  the  first 
time  when  this  principle  obtained  recognition.  The 
wives  of  the  patriarchs — Sarah,  Rebekah,  Rachel — were 
neither  chattels,  nor  drudges,  nor  concubines.  They 
were  ladies,  exerting  the  influence  and  enjoying  the 
respect  due  to  cultivated,  companionable  women.  And 
though  the  law  of  succession  did  not  give  the  females 
of  the  family  equal  rights  with  the  males,  it  recognised 
them  in  another  way.  While  the  eldest  son  suc- 
ceeded to  the  family  home  and  a  double  portion  of 
the  land,  he  was  expected  to  make  some  provision  for 
his  widowed  mother  and  unmarried  sisters.  In  most 
cases  the  sisters  came  to  be  provided  for  by  marriage. 


xvi.,xvii.]        THE  INHERITANCE  OF  JOSEPH.  311 


It  is  the  circumstance  that  among  us  so  many  women 
remain  unmarried  that  has  drawn  so  keen  attention  to 
their  rights,  and  already  caused  so  much  to  be  done, 
as  no  doubt  more  will  be  done  speedily,  for  enlarging 
their  sphere  and  protecting  their  interests. 

No  doubt  these  spirited  daughters  of  Zelophehad 
conferred  a  great  benefit  on  their  sex  in  Israel.  Their 
names  are  entitled  to  grateful  remembrance,  as  the 
names  of  all  are  who  bring  about  beneficial  arrange- 
ments that  operate  in  many  directions  and  to  all  time. 
Yet  one  would  be  sorry  to  think  that  this  was  the  only 
service  which  they  rendered  in  their  day.  One  would 
like  to  think  of  them  as  shedding  over  their  households 
and  friends  the  lustre  of  those  gentle,  womanly  qualities 
which  are  the  glory  of  the  sex.  Advocacy  of  public 
rights  may  be  a  high  duty,  for  the  faithful  discharge 
of  which  the  highest  praise  is  due  ;  but  such  a  career 
emits  little  of  the  fragrance  which  radiates  from  a 
female  life  of  faithful  love,  domestic  activity,  and  sacred 
devotion.  What  blessed  ideals  of  life  Christianity 
furnishes  for  women  even  of  middling  talent  and 
ordinary  education  !  It  is  beautiful  to  see  distinguished 
talents,  high  gifts,  and  persuasive  elements  directed 
to  the  advocacy  of  neglected  claims.  ''  And  yet  I  show 
unto  you  a  more  excellent  way." 


CHAPTER   XXVI. 

THE  DISTRIBUTION  COMPLETED. 
Joshua  xviii.,  xix. 

AN  event  of  great  importance  now  occurs  ;  the  civil 
arrangements  of  the  country  are  in  a  measure 
provided  for,  and  it  is  time  to  set  in  order  the  eccle- 
siastical establishment.  First,  a  place  has  to  be  found 
as  the  centre  of  the  religious  life  ;  next,  the  tabernacle 
has  to  be  erected  at  that  place — and  this  is  to  be  done 
in  the  presence  of  all  the  congregation.  It  is  well 
that  a  godly  man  like  Joshua  is  at  the  head  of  the 
nation  ;  a  less  earnest  servant  of  God  might  have 
left  this  great  work  unheeded.  How  often,  in  the 
emigrations  of  men,  drawn  far  from  their  native 
land  in  search  of  a  new  home,  have  arrangements  for 
Divine  service  been  forgotten !  In  such  cases  the 
degeneracy  into  rough  manners,  uncouth  wa3^s  of  life, 
perhaps  into  profanity,  debauchery,  and  lav/lessness, 
has  usually  been  awfully  rapid.  On  the  other  hand, 
when  the  rule  of  the  old  puritan  has  been  followed, 
*'  Wherever  I  have  a  house,  there  God  shall  have  an 
altar  " ;  when  the  modest  spire  of  the  wooden  church  in 
the  prairie  indicates  that  regard  has  been  had  to  the 
gospel  precept — '^  Seek  ye  first  the  kingdom  of  God  and 
His  righteousness,  and  all  these  things  shall  be  added 
unto  you," — a  touch  of  heaven  is  imparted  to  the  rude 

312 


xviii.,xix.]      THE  DISTRIBUTION  COMPLETED.  31; 


and  primitive  settlement ;  we  may  believe  that  the  spirit 
of  Christ  is  not  unknown  ;  the  angels  of  virtue  and 
piety  are  surely  hovering  around  it. 

The  narrative  is  very  brief,  and  no  reason  is  given 
why  Shiloh  was  selected  as  the  religious  centre  of  the 
nation.  We  should  have  thought  that  the  preference 
would  be  given  to  Shechem,  a  few  miles  north,  in 
the  neighbourhood  of  Ebal  and  Gerizim,  which  had 
already  been  consecrated  in  a  sense  to  God.  That 
Shiloh  was  chosen  by  Divine  direction  we  can  hardly 
doubt,  although  there  may  have  been  reasons  of  various 
kinds  that  commended  it  to  Joshua.  Josephus  says 
it  was^  selected  for  the  beauty  of  the  situation  ;  but  if 
the  present  Seilun  denotes  its  position,  as  is  generally 
believed,  there  is  not  much  to  corroborate  the  assertion 
of  Josephus.  Its  locality  is  carefully  defined  in  the 
Book  of  Judges  (xxi.  19), — '^  on  the  north  side  of  Bethel, 
on  the  east  side  of  the  highway  that  goeth  up  from 
Bethel  to  Shechem,  and  on  the  south  of  Lebonah." 
As  for  its  appearance.  Dean  Stanley  says,  "  Shiloh 
is  so  utterly  featureless  that  had  it  not  been  for  the 
preservation  of  its  name,  vSeilun,  and  for  the  extreme 
precision  with  which  its  situation  is  described  in  the 
Book  of  Judges,  the  spot  could  never  have  been 
identified  ;  and,  indeed,  from  the  time  of  Jerome  till 
the  year  1838  [when  Robinson  identified  it],  its  real 
site  was  completely  forgotten."  Robinson  does  not 
think  so  poorly  of  it  as  Stanley,  describing  it  as  ^'  sur- 
rounded by  hills,  and  looking  out  into  a  beautiful  oval 
basin  "  (''  Biblical  Researches,"  ii.  268). 

From  the  days  of  Joshua,  all  through  the  period 
of  the  Judges,  and  on  to  the  last  days  of  Eli  the  high 
priest,  Shiloh  continued  to  be  the  abode  of  the  taber- 
nacle,  and    the    great    national    sanctuary   of   Israel. 


314  THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 


Situated  about  half-way  between  Bethel  and  Shechem, 
in  the  tribe  of  Ephraim,  it  was  close  to  the  centre 
of  the  country,  and,  moreover,  not  difficult  of  access 
for  the  eastern  tribes.  Here  for  many  generations 
the  annual  assemblies  of  the  nation  took  place.  Here 
came  Hannah  from  her  home  in  Mount  Ephraim  to  pray 
for  a  son ;  and  here  little  Samuel,  ''  lent  to  the  Lord," 
spent  his  beautiful  childhood.  Through  that  opening 
in  the  mountains,  old  Eli  saw  the  ark  carried  by  the 
rash  hands  of  his  sons  into  the  battle  with  the 
Philistines,  and  there  he  sat  on  his  stool  watching  for 
the  messenger  that  was  to  bring  tidings  of  the  battle. 
After  the  ark  was  taken  by  the  Philistines,  the  city 
that  had  grown  up  around  the  tabernacle  appears  to 
have  been  taken  and  sacked  and  the  inhabitants 
massacred  (Psalm  Ixxviii.  60-64).  We  hear  of  it  in  later 
history  as  the  abode  of  Ahijah  the  prophet  (i  Kings 
xi.  29)  ;  afterwards  it  sinks  into  obscurity.  It  is  to 
be  noted  that  its  name  occurs  nowhere  among  the 
towns  of  the  Canaanites ;  it  is  likely  that  it  was  a  new 
place,  founded  by  Joshua,  and  that  it  derived  its  name, 
Shiloh,  ^^rest,"  from  the  sacred  purpose  to  which  it 
was  now  devoted. 

Here,  then,  assembled  the  whole  congregation  of  the 
children  of  Israel,  to  set  up  the  tabernacle,  probably 
with  some  such  rites  as  David  performed  when  it  was 
transferred  from  the  house  of  Obed-Edom  to  Mount 
Zion.  Hitherto  it  had  remained  at  Gilgal,  the  head- 
quarters and  depot  of  the  nation.  The  ^' whole  congi'e- 
gation  "  that  now  assembled  does  not  necessarily  mean 
the  whole  community,  but  only  selected  representatives, 
not  only  of  the  part  that  had  been  engaged  in  warfare, 
but  also  of  the  rest  of  the  nation. 

If  we  try  to  form  a  picture  of  the  state  of  Israel 


xviii.,xix.]      THE  DISTRIBUTION  COMPLETED.  315 

while  Joshua  was  carrying  on  his  warlike  campaigns, 
it  will  appear  that  his  army  being  but  a  part  of  the 
whole,  the  rest  of  the  people  were  occupied  in  a 
somewhat  random  manner,  here  and  there,  in  pro- 
viding food  for  the  community,  in  sowing  and  reaping 
the  fields,  pasturing  their  flocks,  and  gathering  in  the 
fruits.  And  from  the  tone  of  Joshua  it  would  appear 
that  many  of  them  were  content  to  lead  this  somewhat 
irregular  life.  In  a  somewhat  sharp  and  reproachful 
tone  he  says  to  them,  '^  How  long  are  ye  slack  to  go  to 
possess  the  land  which  the  Lord  God  of  your  fathers 
has  given  you  ?  "  One  of  Joshua's  great  difficulties 
was  to  organize  the  vast  mass  of  people  over  whom 
he  presided,  to  prevent  them  from  falling  into  careless, 
slatternly  ways,  and  to  keep  them  up  to  the  mark  of 
absolute  regularity  and  order.  Many  of  them  would 
have  been  content  to  jog  on  carelessly  as  they  had  been 
doing  in  the  desert,  in  a  sort  of  confused  jumble,  and 
to  forage  about,  here  and  there,  as  the  case  might  be, 
in  pursuit  of  the  necessaries  of  life.  Their  listlessness 
was  provoking.  They  knew  that  the  Divine  plan  was 
quite  different,  that  each  tribe  was  to  have  a  territory 
of  its  own,  and  that  measures  ought  to  be  taken  at 
once  to  settle  the  boundaries  of  each  tribe.  But  they 
were  taking  no  steps  for  this  purpose  ;  they  were  content 
with  social  hugger-mugger. 

Joshua  is  old,  but  his  impatience  with  laziness  and 
irregularity  still  gives  sharpness  to  his  remonstrance, 
^'  How  long  are  ye  slack  to  possess  the  land  ?  "  The 
ring  of  authority  is  still  in  his  voice ;  it  still  commands 
obedience.  More  than  that,  the  organizing  faculty  is 
still  active — the  faculty  that  decides  how  a  thing  is  to 
be  done.  '^  Give  out  from  among  you  three  men  for 
each  tribe  ;  and  I  will  send  them,  and  they  shall  rise 


3i6  THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 

and  go  through  the  land  and  describe  it  according  to 
the  inheritance  of  them." 

The  men  are  chosen,  three  from  each  of  the  seven 
tribes  that  are  not  yet  settled ;  and  they  go  through 
and  make  a  survey  of  the  land.  Judah  and  Joseph  are 
not  to  be  disturbed  in  the  settlements  that  have  already 
been  given  to  them ;  but  the  men  are  to  divide  the  rest 
of  the  country  into  seven  parts,  and  thereafter  it  is  to 
be  determined  by  lot  to  which  tribe  each  part  shall 
belong.  It  would  appear  that  special  note  was  to  be 
taken  of  the  cities,  for  when  the  surveyors  returned 
and  gave  in  their  report  they  *'  described  the  land  by 
cities  into  seven  parts  in  a  book."  Each  city  had  a 
certain  portion  of  land  connected  with  it,  and  the  land 
always  went  with  the  city.  The  art  of  writing  was 
sufficiently  practised  to  enable  them  to  compose  what 
has  been  called  the  '*  Domesday  Book  "  of  Canaan,  and 
the  record  being  in  writing  was  a  great  safeguard 
against  the  disputes  that  might  have  arisen  had  so 
large  a  report  consisted  of  mere  oral  statement.  When 
the  seven  portions  had  been  balloted  for,  there  was  no 
excuse  for  any  of  the  tribes  clinging  any  longer  to  that 
nomad  life,  for  which,  while  in  the  wilderness,  they 
seem  to  have  acquired  a  real  love. 

And  now  we  come  to  the  actual  division.  The  most 
interesting  of  the  tribes  yet  unsupplied  was  Benjamin, 
and  the  region  that  fell  to  him  was  interesting  too.  It 
may  be  remarked  as  an  unusual  arrangement,  that 
when  portions  were  allotted  to  Judah  and  to  Ephraim, 
a  space  was  allowed  to  remain  between  them,  so  that 
the  northern  border  of  Judah  was  at  some  distance 
from  the  southern  border  of  Ephraim.  As  Judah  and 
Ephraim  were  the  two  leading  tribes,  and  in  some 
respects   rivals,  the  benefit  of  this  intervening   space 


xviii.,xix.]      THE  DISTRIBUTION  COMPLETED.  317 


between  them  is  apparent.  But  for  this,  whenever 
their  relations  became  strained,  hostilities  might  have 
taken  place. 

Now  it  was  this  intervening  space  that  constituted 
the  inheritance  of  the  tribe  of  Benjamin.  For  the  most 
part  it  consisted  of  deep  ravines  running  from  west  to 
east,  from  the  central  table-land  down  to  the  valley 
of  the  Jordan,  with  mountains  between.  Many  of  its 
cities  were  perched  high  in  the  mountains,  as  is  shown 
by  the  commonness  of  the  names  Gibeon,  Gibeah, 
Geba,  or  Gaba,  all  of  which  signify  '^  hill " ;  while 
Ramah  is  a  ''high  place,"  and  Mizpeh  a  ''tower."  In 
the  wilderness,  Benjamin  had  marched  along  with 
Ephraim  and  Manasseh,  all  the  descendants  of  Joseph 
forming  a  united  company ;  and  after  the  settlement 
Benjamin  naturally  inclined  towards  fellowship  with 
these  tribes.  But,  as  events  went  on,  he  came  more 
into  fellowship  with  the  tribe  of  Judah,  and  though 
Saul,  Shimei,  and  Sheba,  the  bitterest  enemies  of  the 
house  of  David,  were  all  Benjamites,  yet,  when  the 
separation  of  the  two  kingdoms  took  place  under 
Rehoboam,  Benjamin  took  the  side  of  Judah  (i  Kings 
xii.  21).  On  the  return  from  the  captivity  it  was  the 
tribes  of  Judah  and  Benjamin  that  took  the  lead  (Ezra 
i.  5),  and  throughout  the  Book  of  Ezra  the  returned 
patriots  are  usually  spoken  of  as  "  the  men  of  Judah 
and  Benjamin." 

The  cities  of  Benjamin  included  several  of  the  most 
famous.  Among  them  was  Jericho,  the  rebuilding 
of  which  as  a  fortified  place  had  been  forbidden, 
but  which  was  still  in  some  degree  inhabited ;  Bethel, 
which  was  already  very  famous  in  the  histor}^,  but 
which,  after  the  separation  of  the  kingdoms,  was  taken 
possession  of  by  Jeroboam,  and  made  the  shrine  of  his 


3i8  THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 


calves ;  Gibeon,  the  capital  of  the  Gibeonites,  and 
afterwards  a  shrine  frequented  by  Solomon  (i  Kings 
iii.  5)  ;  Ramah,  afterwards  the  dwelling-place  of  Samuel 
(i  Sam.  vii.  17);  Mizpeh,  one  of  the  three  places 
where  he  judged  Israel  (i  Sam.  vii.  16);  Gibeath,  or 
Gibeah,  where  Saul  had  his  palace  (i  Sam.  x.  26) ; 
and  last,  not  least,  Jerusalem.  As  to  Jerusalem,  some 
have  thought  that  it  lay  partly  in  the  territory  of  Judah, 
and  partly  in  that  of  Benjamin.  When  certain  terms 
in  the  description  of  the  boundaries  are  studied  there 
are  difficulties  that  might  suggest  this  solution.  But 
we  have  seen  that  in  practice  there  was  a  considerable 
amount  of  giving  and  taking  among  the  tribes  with 
reference  to  particular  cities,  and  that  sometimes  a  city, 
locally  within  one  tribe,  belonged  to  the  people  of 
another.  So  it  was  with  Jerusalem ;  locally  within  the 
inheritance  of  Benjamin,  it  was  practically  occupied  by 
the  men  of  Judah  (see  chap.  xv.  63). 

Benjamin  was  counted  the  least  of  the  tribes  (i  Sam. 
ix.  31),  and  when,  with  other  tribes,  it  was  represented 
by  its  chief  magistrate,  it  was  rather  disparagingly 
distinguished  as  ''  little  Benjamin  with  their  ruler " 
(Psalm  Ixviii.  27),  Yet  it  was  strong  enough,  on  one 
occasion,  to  set  at  defiance  for  a  time  the  combined 
forces  of  the  other  tribes  (Judg.  xx.  12,  etc.).  It  was 
distinguished  for  the  singular  skill  of  its  slingers ; 
seven  hundred,  who  were  left-handed,  "could  everyone 
sling  stones  at  an  hair-breadth  and  not  miss "  (Judg. 
XX.  16).  The  character  of  its  territory,  abounding  in 
rocky  mountains,  and  probably  in  game,  for  the  capture 
of  which  the  sling  was  adapted,  might,  in  some  degree, 
account  for  this  peculiarity. 

Many  famous  battles  were  fought  on  the  soil  of 
Benjamin.     The  battle  of  Ai ;  that  of  Gibeon,  followed 


xviii.,xix.]      THE  DISTRIBUTION  COMPLETED.  319 

by  the  pursuit  through  Bethhoron,  both  under  Joshua ; 
Jonathan's  battle  with  the  PhiHstines  at  Michmash 
(i  Sam.  xiv.) ;  and  the  duel  at  Gibeon  between  twelve 
men  of  Saul  and  twelve  of  David  (2  Sam.  ii.  15,  16); 
were  all  fought  within  the  territory  of  Benjamin.  And 
when  Sennacherib  approached  Jerusalem  from  the  north, 
the  places  which  were  thrown  into  panic  as  he  came 
near  were  in  this  tribe.  ^'  He  is  come  to  Aiath,  he  is 
passed  through  Migron  ;  at  Michmash  he  layeth  up 
his  baggage  :  they  are  gone  over  the  pass ;  they  have 
taken  up  their  lodging  at  Geba :  Raniah  trembleth ; 
Gibeah  of  Saul  is  fled.  Cry  aloud  with  thy  voice,  O 
daughter  of  Gallim !  hearken,  O  Laishah !  O  thou 
poor  Anathoth  I  Madmenah  is  a  fugitive ;  the  inhabit- 
ants of  Gebim  gather  therpselves  to  flee.  This  very 
day  shall  he  halt  at  Nob  :  he  shaketh  his  hand  at  the 
mount  of  the  daughter  of  Zion,  the  hill  of  Jeru- 
salem"  (Isa.  X.  28-32,  R.V.).  In  later  times  Judas 
Maccabeus  gained  a  victory  over  the  Syrian  forces  at 
Bethhoron  ;  and,  again,  Cestius  and  his  Roman  troops 
were  defeated  by  the  Jews ;  and,  once  more,  centuries 
later,  Richard  Coeur  de  Lion  and  the  flower  of  English 
chivalry,  when  they  pushed  up  through  Bethhoron  in 
the  hope  of  reaching  Jerusalem,  were  compelled  to 
retire. 

Even  down  to  New  Testament  times,  as  Dean 
Stanley  remarks,  the  influence  of  Benjamin  remained, 
for  the  name  of  Saul,  the  king  whom  Benjamin  gave 
to  the  nation,  was  preserved  in  Hebrew  families ; 
and  when  a  far  greater  of  that  name  appeals  to  his 
descent,  or  to  the  past  history  of  his  nation,  a  glow  of 
satisfaction  is  visible  in  the  marked  emphasis  with 
which  he  alludes  to  ''  the  stock  of  Israel,  the  tribe  of 
Benjamin "  (Phil,  iii,   5),  and    to  God's   gift  of  *'  Saul 


320  THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 


the  son  of  Kish,  a  man  of  the  tribe  of  Benjamin " 
(Acts  xiii.  2i). 

There  is  Httle  to  be  said  of  Simeon,  the  second  of 
the  seven  that  drew  his  lot.  It  is  admitted  that  his 
portion  was  taken  out  of  the  first  allotment  to  Judah 
(ver.  9),  which  was  found  to  be  larger  than  that  tribe 
required,  and  many  of  his  cities  are  contained  in  Judah's 
list.  One  act  of  valour  is  recorded  of  Simeon  in  the 
first  chapter  of  Judges ;  after  the  first  settlement,  he 
responded  to  the  appeal  of  Judah  and  accompanied  him 
against  the  Canaanites.  But  the  history  of  this  tribe 
as  a  whole  might  be  written  in  the  words  of  Jacob's 
prophecy — ''I  will  divide  them  in  Jacob,  and  scatter 
them  in  Israel."  There  is  no  historical  reason  for 
the  supposition  of  Wellhausen  that  Simeon  and  Levi 
were  all  but  annihilated  on  occasion  of  their  attack  on 
the  Canaanites.  If  Simeon  had  been  virtually  extin- 
guished, it  would  not  have  had  a  territory  assigned  to 
it  in  the  ideal  division  of  the  country  by  Ezekiel 
(xlviii.  24),  nor  would  it  have  afforded  the  twelve 
thousand  of  the  ^'  sealed  "  in  the  symbolical  vision  of 
St.  John  (Rev.  vii.  7).  While  the  tribe  was  scattered, 
the  name  of  its  founder  survived,  and  both  as  Simeon 
and  Simon  it  was  crowned  with  honour.  It  was  the 
name  of  one  of  the  family  of  Maccabean  patriots  ;  it  was 
borne  by  the  just  and  devout  man  that  waited  in  the 
temple  for  the  consolation  of  Israel ;  and  it  was  the 
Hebrew  name  of  the  great  Apostle  whose  honour  it 
was  to  lay  the  foundation  of  the  Christian  Church. 

Next  came  the  tribe  of  Zebulun,  the  boundaries  of 
which  are  given  with  much  precision  ;  but  as  most  of  the 
names  are  now  unknown,  and  there  are  also  appearances 
of  imperfection  in  the  text,  the  deUneation  cannot  be 
followed,     ''The    brook    that   is   before    Jokneam"   is 


xviii.,xix.]      THE  DISTRIBUTION  COMPLETED.  321 

supposed  to  be  the  Kishon,  and  Chisloth-Tabor,  or  the 
flanks  of  Tabor,  points  to  the  mountain  which  is  the 
traditional,  though  probably  not  the  real  scene  of  our 
Lord's  transfiguration.  Gittah-hepher,  or  Gath-hepher, 
was  the  birthplace  of  the  prophet  Jonah.  Bethlehem, 
now  Beit-Lahm,  is  a  miserable  village,  not  to  be  con- 
founded with  the  Bethlehem  of  Judah.  As  no  mention 
is  made  either  of  the  sea  or  the  lake  of  Galilee  as  a 
boundary,  it  is  probable  that  Zebulun  was  wholly  an 
inland  tribe.  Strange  to  say,  there  is  no  mention,  either 
here  or  in  any  part  of  the  Old  Testament,  of  by  far 
the  most  famous  place  in  the  tribe, — Nazareth,  the 
early  residence  of  our  Lord.  Yet  its  situation  would 
indicate  that  it  must  have  been  a  very  ancient  place. 
Nor  is  it  likely  to  have  escaped  the  notice  of  the 
surveyors  when  they  went  through  the  land.  The 
omission  of  this  name  has  given  rise  to  the  opinion 
that  the  list  is  incomplete. 

Issachar  occupied  an  interesting  and  important  site. 
Jezreel,  the  first  name  in  the  definition  of  its  boundaries, 
is  also  the  most  famous.  Jezreel,  now  represented  by 
Zerin,  was  situated  on  a  lofty  height,  and  gave  name 
to  the  whole  valley  around.  Here  Ahab  had  his  palace 
in  the  days  of  Elijah.  By  its  association  with  the 
worship  of  Baal,  Jezreel  got  a  bad  reputation,  and  in 
the  prophet  Hosea  degenerate  Israel  is  called  Jezreel,  a 
name  somewhat  similar,  but  with  very  different  associa- 
tions (chap.  i.  4).  Shunem  was  the  place  of  encamp- 
ment of  the  Philistine  army  before  the  battle  of  Gilboa, 
and  also  the  residence  of  the  woman  whose  son  Elisha 
restored  to  life.  Bethshemesh  must  not  be  confounded 
with  the  town  of  the  same  name  in  Judah,  nor  with 
that  in  the  tribe  of  Naphtali.  Signifying  '^  house  of  the 
sun,"  it  was  a  very  common  name  among  the  Canaanites, 

21 


132  THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 


as  being  noted  for  the  worship  of  the  heavenly  bodies. 
As  we  have  already  remarked  in  connection  with 
Megiddo  which  belonged  to  Manasseh,  the  valley  of 
Jezreel,  now  usually  called  the  plain  of  Esdraelon,  was 
noted  as  the  great  battle-field  of  Palestine. 

Asher  also  had  an  interesting  temtory.  Theoretically 
it  extended  from  Carmel  to  Sidon,  embracing  the  whole 
of  the  Phoenician  strip ;  but  practically  it  did  not  reach 
so  far.  Naphtali  was  adjacent  to  Asher,  and  had  the 
Jordan  and  the  lakes  of  Merom  and  Gahlee  for  its 
eastern  boundary.  It  is  in  the  New  Testament  that 
Naphtali  enjoys  its  greatest  distinction,  the  lake  of 
Galilee  and  the  towns  on  its  banks,  so  conspicuous  in 
the  gospel  history,  having  been  situated  there. 

These  northern  tribes,  as  is  well  known,  constituted 
the  district  of  Galilee.  The  contrast  between  its  early 
insignificance  and  its  later  glory  is  well  brought  out  in 
the  Revised  Version  of  Isa.  ix.  1,2:  *'  But  there  sh^ll 
be  no  gloom  to  her  that  was  in  anguish.  In  the  former 
time  He  brought  into  contempt  the  land  of  Zebulun 
and  the  land  of  Naphtali,  but  in  the  latter  time  hath 
He  made  it  glorious,  by  the  way  of  the  sea,  beyond 
Jordan,  Galilee  of  the  nations.  The  people  that  walked 
in  darkness  have  seen  a  great  light :  they  that  dwelt 
in  the  land  of  the  shadow  of  death,  upon  them  hath  the 
light  shined." 

Dan  was  the  last  tribe  whose  lot  was  drawn.  And 
it  really  seemed  as  if  the  least  desirable  of  all  the 
portions  fell  to  him.  He  was  hemmed  in  between 
Judah  on  the  one  hand  and  the  Philistines  on  the 
other,  and  the  Philistines  were  anything  but  comfort- 
able neighbours.  The  best  part  of  the  level  land  was 
no  doubt  in  their  hands,  and  Dan  was  limited  to  what 
lay  at  the  base  of  the  mountains  (see  Judg.  i.  34,  35). 


xviii.,xix.]      THE  DISTRIBUTION  COMPLETED.  323 


Very  early,  therefore,  in  the  history,  a  colony  of  Dan 
went  out  in  search  of  further  possessions,  and,  having 
dispossessed  some  Sidonians  at  Laish  in  the  extreme 
north,  gave  their  name  to  that  city,  which  proverbially 
denoted  the  most  northerly  city  in  the  country,  as  Beer- 
sheba,  in  like  manner,  denoted  the  most  southerly. 

The  division  of  the  country  was  now  completed, 
save  that  one  individual  was  still  unprovided  for.  And 
that  was  Joshua  himself  As  in  a  shipwreck,  the 
captain  is  the  last  to  leave  the  doomed  vessel,  so  here 
the  leader  of  the  nation  was  the  last  to  receive  a 
portion.  With  rare  self-denial  he  waited  till  every 
one  else  was  provided  for.  Here  we  have  a  glimpse 
of  his  noble  spirit.  That  there  would  be  much 
grumbling  over  the  division  of  the  country,  he  no 
doubt  counted  inevitable,  and  that  the  people  would 
be  disposed  to  come  with  their  complaints  to  him 
followed  as  matter  of  course.  See  how  he  circumvents 
them !  Whoever  might  be  disposed  to  go  to  him 
complaining  of  his  lot,  knew  the  ready  answer  he 
would  get — you  are  not  worse  off  than  I  am,  for  as 
yet  I  have  got  none !  Joshua  was  content  to  see  the 
fairest  inheritances  disposed  of  to  others,  while  as  yet 
none  had  been  allotted  to  him.  When,  last  of  all,  his 
turn  did  come,  his  request  was  a  modest  one — **  They 
gave  him  the  city  that  he  asked,  even  Timnath-serah 
in  the  hill  country  of  Ephraim."  He  might  have 
asked  for  an  inheritance  in  the  fertile  and  beautiful 
vale  of  Shechem,  consecrated  by  one  of  the  earliest 
promises  to  Abraham,  near  to  Jacob's  well  and  his 
ancestor  Joseph's  tomb,  or  under  shadow  of  the  two 
mountains,  Ebal  and  Gerizim,  where  so  solemn  a 
transaction  had  taken  place  after  his  people  entered 
the  land.     He  asks  for  nothing  of  the   kind,  but  for 


324  THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 

a  spot  on  one  of  the  highland  hills  of  Ephraim,  a 
place  so  obscure  that  no  trace  of  it  remains.  It  is 
described  in  Judg.  ii.  9  as  '*  Timnath-heres,  in  the 
hill  country  of  Ephraim,  on  the  north  of  the  mountain 
of  Gaash."  The  north  side  of  the  mountain  does  not 
indicate  a  spot  remarkable  either  for  amenity  or 
fertility.  In  the  days  of  Jerome,  his  friend  Paula  is 
said  to  have  expressed  surprise  that  the  distributer  of 
the  whole  country  reserved  so  wild  and  mountainous 
a  district  for  himself 

Could  it  have  been  that  it  was  a  farm  rejected  by 
every  one  else  ?  that  the  head  of  the  nation  was 
content  with  what  no  one  else  would  have  ?  If  it  was 
so,  how  must  this  have  exalted  Joshua  in  the  eyes  of 
his  countrymen,  and  how  well  fitted  it  is  to  exalt  him 
in  ours !  Whether  it  was  a  portion  that  every  one 
else  had  despised  or  not,  it  undoubtedly  was  com- 
parativel}^  a  poor  and  far-off  inheritance.  His  choice 
of  it  was  a  splendid  rebuke  to  the  grumbling  of  his 
tribe,  to  the  pride  and  selfishness  of  the  "great  people  " 
who  would  not  be  content  with  a  single  lot,  and  wished 
an  additional  one  to  be  assigned  to  them.  "  Up  with 
you  to  the  mountain "  was  Joshua's  spirited  reply ; 
*'  cut  down  the  wood,  and  drive  out  the  Canaanites  ! " 

And  Joshua  was  not  the  man  to  give  a  prescription 
to  others  that  he  was  not  prepared  to  take  to  himself. 
Up  to  the  mountain  he  certainly  did  go  ;  and  as  he 
was  now  too  old  to  fight,  he  quite  probably  spent  his 
last  years  in  clearing  his  lot,  cutting  down  timber,  and 
laboriously  preparing  the  soil  for  crops.  In  any  case, 
he  set  a  splendid  example  of  disinterested  humility. 
He  showed  himself  the  worthy  successor  of  Moses, 
who  had  never  hinted  at  any  distinction  for  his  family 
or  any  possession  in  the  country  beyond  what  might 


xviii.,  xix.]      THE  DISTRIBUTION  COMPLETED.  325 


be  given  to  an  ordinary  Levite.  How  nobly  both 
contrasted  with  men  hke  Napoleon,  who  used  his 
influence  so  greedily  for  the  enrichment  and  aggrand- 
isement of  every  member  of  his  family  I  Joshua  came 
very  near  to  the  spirit  of  our  blessed  Lord,  who 
"  though  He  was  in  the  form  of  God,  and  thought  it 
no  robbery  to  be  equal  with  God,  made  Himself  of  no 
reputation,  and  took  on  Him  the  form  of  a  servant, 
and  was  made  in  the  likeness  of  man."  As  we  see  the 
Old  Testament  Jesus  retiring  in  His  old  age,  not  to  a 
paradise  in  some  fertile  and  flowery  vale,  but  to  a  bleak 
and  rocky  farm  on  the  north  side  of  the  mountain  of 
Gaash,  or  to  a  shaggy  forest,  still  held  by  the  wolf  and 
the  bear,  we  are  reminded  of  the  Joshua  of  the  New 
Testament :  **  Foxes  have  holes,  and  the  birds  of  the 
air  have  nests  ;  but  the  Son  of  man  hath  not  where 
to  lay  his  head." 


CHAPTER   XXVII. 

THE  CITIES  OF  REFUGE. 
Joshua  xx. 

CITIES  of  refuge  had  a  very  prominent  place 
assigned  to  them  in  the  records  of  the  Mosaic 
legislation.  First,  in  that  which  all  allow  to  be  the 
earliest  legislation  (Exod.  xx. — xxiii.)  intimation  is  given 
of  God's  intention  to  institute  such  cities  (Exod.  xxi. 
1 3) ;  then  in  Numbers  (xxxv.  9-34)  the  plan  of  these 
places  is  given  in  full,  and  all  the  regulations  applicable 
to  them;  again  in  Deuteronomy  (xix.  1-13)  the  law  on 
the  subject  is  rehearsed;  and  finally,  in  this  chapter,  we 
read  how  the  cities  were  actually  instituted,  three  on 
either  side  of  Jordan.  This  frequent  introduction  of 
the  subject  shows  that  it  was  regarded  as  one  of  great 
importance,  and  leads  us  to  expect  that  we  shall  find 
principles  underlying  it  of  great  value  in  their  bearing 
even  on  modern  life.^ 

Little  needs  to  be  said  on  the  particular  cities 
selected,  except  that  they  were  conveniently  dispersed 

'  These  frequent  references  do  not  prevent  modern  critics  from 
affirming  that  the  cities  of  refuge  were  no  part  of  the  Mosaic  legislation. 
They  found  this  view  upon  the  absence  throughout  the  history  of  all 
reference  to  them  as  being  in  actual  use.  They  were  not  instituted, 
it  is  said,  till  after  the  Exile,  But  the  very  test  that  rejects  them 
from  the  early  legislation  fails  here.  There  is  no  reference  to  them 
as  actually  occupied  in  the  post-exilian   books,  amounting,  as  these 

■126 


XX.]  THE  CITIES   OF  REFUGE.  327 

over  the  country.  Kedesh  in  Galilee  in  the  northern 
part,  Shechem  in  the  central,  and  Hebron  in  the  south, 
were  all  accessible  to  the  people  in  these  regions 
respectively ;  as  were  also,  on  the  other  side  the  river, 
Bezer  in  the  tribes  of  Reuben,  Ramoth  in  Gilead,  and 
Golan  in  Bashan.  Those  who  are  fond  of  detecting 
the  types  of  spiritual  things  in  material,  and  who 
take  a  hint  from  Heb.  vi.  18,  connecting  these  cities 
with  the  sinner's  refuge  in  Christ,  naturally  think  in 
this  connection  of  the  nearness  of  the  Saviour  to  all 
who  seek  Him,  and  the  certainty  of  protection  and 
deliverance  when  they  put  their  trust  in  Him. 

I.  The  first  thought  that  naturally  occurs  to  us  when 
we  read  of  these  cities  concerns  the  sanctity  of  human 
life ;  or,  if  we  take  the  material  symbol,  the  precious- 
ness  of  human  blood.  God  wished  to  impress  on  His 
people  that  to  put  an  end  to  a  man's  life  under  any 
circumstances,  was  a  serious  thing.  Man  was  some- 
thing higher  than  the  beasts  that  perish.  To  end  a 
human  career,  to  efface  by  one  dread  act  all  the  joys 
of  a  man's  life,  all  his  dreams  and  hopes  of  coming 
good  ;  to  snap  all  the  threads  that  bound  him  to  his 
fellows,  perhaps  to  bring  want  into  the  homes  and 
desolation  into  the  hearts  of  all  who  loved  him  or 
leant  on  him — this,  even  if  done  unintentionally,  was 
a  very  serious  thing.  To  mark  this  in  a  very  emphatic 
way  was  the  purpose  of  these  cities  of  refuge.  Though 
in    certain  respects  (as  we  shall  see)    the  practice   of 

are  said  to  do,  to  half  the  Old  Testament.  Their  occupation,  it  is  said, 
with  the  other  Levitical  cities,  was  postponed  to  the  time  of  Messiah. 
The  shifts  to  which  the  critics  are  put  in  connection  with  this 
institution  do  not  merely  indicate  a  weak  point  in  their  theory ;  they 
show^  also  how  precarious  is  the  position  that  when  you  do  not  hear 
of  an  institution  as  in  actual  operation  you  may  conclude  that  it  was 
of  later  date. 


328  THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 

avenging  blood  by  the  next-of-kin  indicated  a  relic 
of  barbarism,  yet,  as  a  testimony  to  the  sacredness  of 
human  life,  it  was  characteristic  of  civilization.  It  is 
natural  for  us  to  have  a  feeling,  when  through  careless- 
ness but  quite  unintentionally  one  has  killed  another ; 
when  a  young  man,  for  example,  believing  a  gun  to  be 
unloaded,  has  discharged  its  contents  into  the  heart  of 
his  sister  or  his  mother,  and  when  the  author  of  this 
deed  gets  off  scot-free, — we  may  have  a  feeling  that 
something  is  wanting  to  vindicate  the  sanctity  of  human 
life,  and  bear  witness  to  the  terribleness  of  the  act  that 
extinguished  it.  And  yet  it  cannot  be  denied  that  in  our 
day  life  is  invested  with  pre-eminent  sanctity.  Never, 
probably,  was  its  value  higher,  or  the  act  of  destroying 
it  wilfully,  or  even  carelessly,  treated  as  more  serious. 
Perhaps,  too,  as  things  are  with  us,  it  is  better  in  cases 
of  unintentional  killing  to  leave  the  unhappy  perpetrator 
to  the  punishment  of  his  own  feelings,  rather  than 
subject  him  to  any  legal  process,  which,  while  ending 
with  a  declaration  of  his  innocence,  might  needlessly 
aggravate  a  most  excruciating  pain. 

It  is  not  a  very  pleasing  feature  of  the  Hebrew 
economy  that  this  regard  to  the  sanctity  of  human  life 
was  limited  to  members  of  the  Hebrew  nation.  All 
outside  the  Hebrew  circle  were  treated  as  little  better 
than  the  beasts  that  perish.  For  Canaanites  there  was 
nothing  but  indiscriminate  slaughter.  Even  in  the 
times  of  King  David  we  find  a  barbarity  in  the  treat- 
ment of  enemies  that  seems  to  shut  out  all  sense  of 
brotherhood,  and  to  smother  all  claim  to  compassion. 
We  have  here  a  point  in  which  even  the  Hebrew  race 
were  still  far  behind.  They  had  not  come  under  the 
influence  of  that  blessed  Teacher  who  taught  us  to  love 
our  enemies.     They   had    no   sense   of  the   obligation 


XX.]  THE  CITIES  OF  REFUGE.  329 

arising  from  the  great  truth  that  "  God  hath  made  of 
one  blood  all  the  nations  of  men  for  to  dwell  on  all  the 
face  of  the  earth."  This  is  one  of  the  points  at  which 
we  are  enabled  to  see  the  vast  change  that  was  effected 
by  the  spirit  of  Jesus  Christ.  The  very  psalms  in 
some  places  reflect  the  old  spirit,  for  the  writers  had 
not  learned  to  pray  as  He  did — "  Father,  forgive  them  ; 
for  they  know  not  what  they  do." 

2.  Even  as  apportioned  to  the  Hebrew  people,  there 
was  still  an  uncivilized  element  in  the  arrangements 
connected  with  these  cities  of  refuge.  This  lay  in 
the  practice  of  making  the  go-el,  or  nearest  of  kin, 
the  avenger  of  blood.  The  moment  a  man's  blood 
was  shed,  the  nearest  relative  became  responsible  for 
avenging  it.  He  felt  himself  possessed  by  a  spirit  of 
retribution,  which  demanded,  with  irrepressible  urgency, 
the  blood  of  the  man  who  had  killed  his  relation.  It 
was  an  unreasoning,  restless  spirit,  making  no  allow- 
ance for  the  circumstances  in  which  the  blood  w^as  shed, 
seeing  nothing  and  knowing  nothing  save  that  his  relative 
had  been  slain,  and  that  it  was  his  duty,  at  the  earliest 
possible  moment,  to  have  blood  for  blood.  Had  the 
law  been  perfect,  it  w^ould  have  simply  handed  over 
the  killer  to  the  magistrate,  whose  duty  would  have 
been  calmly  to  investigate  the  case,  and  either  punish 
or  acquit,  according  as  he  should  find  that  the  man  had 
committed  a  crime  or  had  caused  a  misfortune.  But, 
as  w^e  have  seen,  it  was  characteristic  of  the  Hebrew 
legislation  that  it  adapted  itself  to  the  condition  of 
things  which  it  found,  and  not  to  an  ideal  perfection 
which  the  people  were  not  capable  of  at  once  realizing. 
In  the  office  of  the  go-el  there  was  much  that  was  of 
wholesome  tendency.  The  feeling  was  deeply  rooted 
in  the  Hebrew  mind  that  the  nearest  of  kin  was  the 


330  THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 

guardian  of  his  brother's  Hfe,  and  for  this  reason  he  was 
bound  to  avenge  his  death ;  and  instead  of  crossing 
this  feehng,  or  seeking  wholly  to  uproot  it,  the  object 
of  Moses  was  to  place  it  under  salutary  checks,  which 
should  prevent  it  from  inflicting  gross  injustice  where 
no  crime  had  really  been  committed.  There  was  some- 
thing both  sacred  and  salutary  in  the  relation  of  the 
go-el  to  his  nearest  of  kin.  When  poverty  obliged  a 
man  to  dispose  of  his  property,  it  was  the  go-el  that 
was  bound  to  intervene  and  *'  redeem "  the  property. 
The  law  served  as  a  check  to  the  cold  spirit  that  is 
so  ready  to  ask,  in  reference  to  one  broken  down, 
"  Am  I  my  brother's  keeper  ?  "  It  maintained  a  friendly 
relation  between  members  of  families  that  might  other- 
wise have  been  entirely  severed  from  each  other.  The 
avenging  of  blood  was  regarded  as  one  of  the  duties 
resulting  from  this  relation,  and  had  this  part  of  the 
duty  been  rudely  or  summarily  superseded,  the  whole 
relationship,  with  all  the  friendly  offices  which  it  in- 
volved, might  have  suffered  shipwreck. 

3.  The  course  to  be  followed  by  riie  involuntary 
manslayer  was  very  minutely  prescribed.  He  was 
to  hurry  with  all  speed  to  the  nearest  city  of  refuge, 
and  stand  at  the  entering  of  the  gate  till  the  elders 
assembled,  and  then  to  declare  his  cause  in  their  ears. 
If  he  failed  to  establish  his  innocence,  he  got  no  pro- 
tection ;  but  if  he  made  out  his  case  he  was  free  from 
the  avenger  of  blood,  so  long  as  he  remained  within 
the  city  or  its  precincts.  If,  however,  he  wandered 
out,  he  was  at  the  mercy  of  the  avenger.  Further, 
he  was  to  remain  in  the  city  till  the  death  of  the  high 
priest.  Some  have  sought  a  mystical  meaning  in  this 
last  regulation,  as  if  the  high  priest  figured  the  Redeemer, 
and    the    death   of  the  high   priest  the   completion   of 


XX.]  THE  CITIES   OF  REFUGE,  331 

redemption  by  the  death  of  Christ.  But  this  is  too 
far-fetched  to  be  of  weight.  The  death  of  the  high 
priest  was  probably  fixed  on  as  a  convenient  time  for 
releasing  the  manslayer,  it  being  probable  that  by  that 
time  all  keen  feeling  in  reference  to  his  deed  would 
have  subsided,  and  no  one  would  then  think  that  justice 
had  been  defrauded  when  a  man  with  blood  on  his 
hands  was  allowed  to  go  at  large. 

4.  As  it  was,  the  involuntary  manslayer  had  thus 
to  undergo  a  considerable  penalty.  Having  to  reside 
in  the  city  of  refuge,  he  could  no  longer  cultivate  his 
farm  or  follow  his  ordinary  avocations;  he  must  have 
found  the  means  of  living  in  some  new  employment 
as  best  he  could.  His  friendships,  his  whole  associa- 
tions in  life,  were  changed  ;  perhaps  he  was  even 
separated  from  his  family.  To  us  all  this  appears  a 
harder  line  than  justice  would  have  prescribed.  But, 
on  the  one  hand,  it  was  a  necessary  testimony  to  the 
strong,  though  somewhat  unreasonable  feeling  respect- 
ing the  awfulness,  through  whatever  cause,  of  shedding 
innocent  blood.  A  man  had  to  accept  of  this  quietly, 
just  as  many  a  man  has  to  accept  the  consequences — 
the  social  outlawry,  it  may  be,  and  other  penalties — of 
having  had  a  father  of  bad  character,  or  of  having  been 
present  in  the  company  of  wicked  men  when  some  evil 
deed  was  done  by  them.  Then,  on  the  other  hand, 
the  fact  that  the  involuntary  destruction  of  life  was 
sure,  even  at  the  best,  to  be  followed  by  such  conse- 
quences, was  fitted  to  make  men  very  careful.  They 
would  naturally  endeavour  to  the  utmost  to  guard 
against  an  act  that  might  land  them  in  such  a 
situation  ;  and  thus  the  ordinary  operations  of  daily 
life  would  be  rendered  more  secure.  And  perhaps 
it  was  in  this  way  that  the  whole  appointment  secured 


332  THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 

its  end.  Some  laws  are  never  broken.  And  here  may 
be  the  explanation  of  the  fact  that  the  cities  of  refuge 
were  not  much  used.  In  all  Bible  history  we  do  not 
meet  with  a  single  instance  ;  but  this  might  indicate, 
not  the  non-existence  of  the  institution,  but  the  indirect 
success  of  the  provision,  which,  though  framed  to  cure, 
operated  by  preventing.  It  made  men  careful,  and 
thus  in  silence  checked  the  evil  more  effectually  than 
if  it  had  often  been  put  in  execution. 

The  desire  for  vengeance  is  a  very  strong  feeling 
of  human  nature.  Nor  is  it  a  feeling  that  soon  dies 
out ;  it  has  been  known  to  live,  and  to  live  keenly  and 
earnestly,  even  for  centuries.  We  talk  of  ancient  bar- 
barism ;  but  even  in  comparatively  modern  times  the 
story  of  its  deeds  is  appalling.  Witness  its  operation 
in  the  island  of  Corsica.  The  historian  Filippini  says 
that  in  thirty  years  of  his  own  time  28,000  Corsicans 
had  been  murdered  out  of  revenge.  Another  historian 
calculates  that  the  number  of  the  victims  of  the  Vendetta 
from  1359  to  1729  was  330,000.^  If  an  equal  number 
be  allowed  for  the  wounded,  we  have  666,000  Corsicans 
victims  of  revenge.  And  Corsica  was  but  one  part 
of  Italy  where  the  same  passion  raged.  In  former 
ages  Florence,  Bologna,  Verona,  Padua,  and  Milan 
were  conspicuous  for  the  same  wild  spirit.  And, 
however  raised,'  even  by  trifling  causes,  the  spirit  of 
vengeance  is.  uncontrollable.  The  causes,  indeed,  are 
often  in  ludicrous  disproportion  to  the  effects.  '^  In 
Ireland,  for  instance,  it  is  not  so  long  since  one  of 
these  blood-feuds  in  the  county  of  Tipperary  had 
acquired  such  formidable  proportions  that  the  authorities 
of  the  Roman  Catholic   Church   there  were  compelled 

'  Gregorovjus,  "Wanderings  in  Corsica." 


XX.]  THE  CITIES  OF  REFUGE.  333 

to  resort  to  a  mission  in  order  to  put  an  end  to  it. 
A  man  had  been  killed  nearly  a  centm^y  before  in  an 
affray  which  commenced  about  the  age  of  a  colt.  His 
relatives  felt  bound  to  avenge  the  murder,  and  then* 
vengeance  was  again  deemed  to  require  fresh  vengeance, 
until  faction  fights  between  the  *  Three  Year  Olds ' 
and  the  '  Four  Year  Olds '  had  grown  almost  into 
petty  wars."  ^  When  we  find  the  spirit  of  revenge 
so  blindly  fierce  even  in  comparatively  modern  times, 
we  can  the  better  appreciate  the  necessity  of  such 
a  check  on  its  exercise  as  the  cities  of  refuge  supplied. 
The  mere  fact  that  blood  had  been  shed  was  enough 
to  rouse  the  legal  avenger  to  the  pitch  of  frenzy  ;  in 
his  blind  passion  he  could  think  of  nothing  but  blood 
for  blood ;  and  if,  in  the  first  excitement  of  the  news, 
the  involuntary  manslayer  had  crossed  his  path,  nothing 
could  have  restrained  him  from  falling  on  him  and 
crimsoning  the  ground  with  his  blood. 

In  New  Testament  times  the  practice  that  committed 
the  avenging  of  blood  to  the  nearest  of  kin  seems  to 
have  fallen  into  abeyance.  No  such  keen  desire  for 
revenge  was  prevalent  then.  Such  cases  as  those  now 
provided  for  were  doubtless  dealt  with  by  the  ordinary 
magistrate.  And  thus  our  Lord  could  grapple  directly 
with  the  spirit  of  revenge  and  retaliation  in  all  its  mani- 
festations. *'  Ye  have  heard  that  it  was  said  of  old  time, 
An  eye  for  an  eye,  and  a  tooth  for  a  tooth ;  but  I  say 
unto  you,  Resist  not  him  that  is  evil ;  but  whosoever 
smiteth  thee  on  thy  right  cheek,  turn  to  him  the  other 
also "  (R.V.).  The  old  practice  was  hurtful,  because, 
even  in  cases  where  punishment  was  deserved,  it  made 
vengeance  or  retribution  so  much  a  matter  of  personal 

*  **  Pulpit  Comment.,"  in  loco. 


334  THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 

feeling.  It  stimulated  to  the  utmost  pitch  what  was 
fiercest  in  human  temper.  It  is  a  far  better  system 
that  commits  the  dealing  with  crime  to  the  hands  of 
magistrates,  who  ought  to  be,  and  who  are  presumed 
to  be,  exempt  from  all  personal  feeling  in  the  matter. 
And  now,  for  those  whose  personal  feelings  are  roused, 
whether  in  a  case  of  premeditated  or  of  unintended 
manslaughter,  or  of  any  lesser  injury  done  to  themselves, 
the  Christian  rule  is  that  those  personal  feelings  are 
to  be  overcome ;  the  law  of  love  is  to  be  called  into 
exercise,  and  retribution  is  to  be  left  in  the  hands 
of  the  great  Judge: — *' Vengeance  is  Mine;  I  will 
recompense,  saith  the  Lord." 

The  attempt  to  find  in  the  cities  of  refuge  a  typical 
representation  of  the  great  salvation  fails  at  every  point 
but  one.  The  safety  that  was  found  in  the  refuge 
corresponds  to  the  safety  that  is  found  in  Christ.  But 
even  in  this  point  of  view  the  city  of  refuge  rather 
affords  an  illustration  than  constitutes  a  type.  The 
benefit  of  the  refuge  was  only  for  unintentional  offences  ; 
the  salvation  of  Christ  is  for  all.  What  Christ  saves 
from  is  not  our  misfortune  but  our  guilt.  The  pro- 
tection of  the  city  was  needed  only  till  the  death  of  the 
high  priest ;  the  protection  of  Christ  is  needed  till  the 
great  public  acquittal.  All  that  the  manslayer  received 
in  the  city  was  safety ;  but  from  Christ  there  is  a 
constant  flow  of  higher  and  hoHer  blessings.  His 
name  is  called  Jesus  because  He  saves  His  people  from 
their  sins.  Not  merely  from  the  penalty,  but  from  the 
sins  themselves.  It  is  His  high  office  not  only  to  atone 
for  sin,  but  to  destroy  it.  ''If  the  Son  makes  you  free, 
ye  shall  be  free  indeed."  The  virtue  that  goes  out  of 
Him  comes  into  contact  with  the  lust  itself  and  trans- 
forms it.     The  final  benefit  of  Christ  is  the  blessing  of 


XX.]  THE  CITIES   OF  REFUGE.  335 

transformation.  It  is  the  acquisition  of  the  ChristHke 
spirit.  **  Moreover  whom  He  did  foreknow,  them  He 
also  did  predestinate  to  be  conformed  to  the  image 
of  His  Son,  that  He  might  be  the  firstborn  of  many 
brethren." 

In  turning  an  incident  Hke  this  to  account,  as  bearing 
on  our  modern  hfe,  we  are  led  to  think  how  much 
harm  we  are  liable  to  do  to  others  without  intending 
harm,  and  how  deeply  we  ought  to  be  affected  by  this 
consideration,  when  we  discover  what  we  have  really 
done.  We  may  be  helped  here  by  thinking  of  the  case  of 
St.  Paul.  What  harm  he  did  in  the  unconverted  period 
of  his  Hfe,  without  intending  to  do  harm,  cannot  be 
calculated.  But  when  he  came  to  the  light,  nothing 
could  have  exceeded  the  depth  of  his  contrition,  and,  to 
his  last  hour,  he  could  not  think  of  the  past  without 
horror.  It  was  his  great  joy  to  know  that  his  Lord 
had  pardoned  hiin,  and  that  he  had  been  able  to  find 
one  good  use  of  the  very  enormity  of  his  conduct — to 
show  the  exceeding  riches  of  His  pardoning  love.  But, 
all  his  life  long,  the  Apostle  was  animated  by  an 
overwhelming  desire  to  neutralise,  as  far  as  he  could, 
the  mischief  of  his  early  life,  and  very  much  of  the 
self-denial  and  contempt  of  ease  that  continued  to 
characterise  him  was  due  to  this  vehement  feeling. 
For  though  Paul  felt  that  he  had  done  harm  in  ignor- 
ance, and  for  this  cause  had  obtained  mercy,  he  did 
not  consider  that  his  ignorance  excused  him  altogether. 
It  was  an  ignorance  that  proceeded  from  culpable 
causes,  and  that  involved  effects  from  which  a  rightly 
ordered  heart  could  not  but  recoil. 

In  the  case  of  His  own  murderers  our  blessed 
Lord,  in  His  beautiful  prayer,  recognised  a  double  con- 
dition,— they    were    ignorant,    yet    they    were    guilty, 


336  THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 


*'  Father,  forgive  them ;  for  they  know  not  what  they 
do."  They  were  ignorant  of  what  they  were  doing, 
and  yet  they  were  doing  what  needed  forgiveness, 
because  it  involved  guilt.  And  what  we  admire  in 
Paul  is,  that  he  did  not  make  his  ignorance  a  self- 
justifying  plea,  but  in  the  deepest  humility  owned  the 
inexcusableness  of  his  conduct.  To  have  done  harm 
to  our  fellow-creatures  under  any  circumstances  is  a 
distressing  thing,  even  when  we  meant  the  best ;  but 
to  have  down  harm  to  their  moral  life  owing  to  some- 
thing wrong  in  our  own,  is  not  only  distressing,  but 
humiliating.  It  is  something  which  we  dare  not  lightly 
dismiss  from  our  minds,  under  the  plea  that  we  meant 
the  best,  but  unfortunately  we  were  mistaken.  Had 
we  been  more  careful,  had  our  eye  been  more  single, 
we  should  have  been  full  of  light,  and  we  should  have 
known  that  we  were  not  taking  the  right  way  to  do  the 
best.  Errors  in  moral  life  always  resolve  themselves 
into  disorder  of  our  moral  nature,  and,  if  traced  to 
their  source,  will  bring  to  light  some  fault  of  indolence, 
or  selfishness,  or  pride,  or  carelessness,  which  was  the 
real  cause  of  our  mistaken  act. 

And  where  is  the  man — parent,  teacher,  pastor,  or 
friend — that  does  not  become  conscious,  at  some  time 
or  other,  of  having  influenced  for  harm  those  com- 
mitted to  his  care  ?  We  taught  them,  perhaps,  to 
despise  some  good  man  whose  true  worth  we  have 
afterwards  been  led  to  see.  We  repressed  their  zeal 
when  we  thought  it  misdirected,  with  a  force  which 
chilled  their  enthusiasm  and  carnalised  their  hearts. 
We  failed  to  stimulate  them  to  decision  for  Christ,  and 
allowed  the  golden  opportunity  to  pass  which  might 
have  settled  their  relation  to  God  all  the  rest  of  their 
life.     The  great  reahties  of  the  spiritual  life  were  not 


XX.]  THE  CITIES  OF  REFUGE.  337 


brought  home  to  them  with  the  earnestness,  the  fideUty, 
the  affection  that  was  fitting.  ''Who  can  understand 
his  errors  ? "  Who  among  us  but,  as  he  turns  some 
new  corner  in  the  path  of  hfe,  as  he  reaches  some  new 
view-point,  as  he  sees  a  new  flash  from  heaven 
reflected  on  the  past, — who  among  us  but  feels  pro- 
foundly that  all  his  life  has  been  marred  by  unsuspected 
flaws,  and  almost  wishes  that  he  had  never  been  born  ? 
Is  there  no  city  of  refuge  for  us  to  fly  to,  and  to  escape 
the  condemnation  of  our  hearts  ? 

It  is  here  that  the  blessed  Lord  presents  Himself  to 
us  in  a  most  blessed  light.  "  Come  unto  Me,  all  ye  that 
labour  and  are  heavy  laden,  and  I  will  give  you  rest." 
Do  we  not  labour  indeed,  are  we  not  in  truth  very 
heavy  laden,  when  we  feel  the  burden  of  unintentional 
evil,  when  we  feel  that  uncon.sciously  we  have  been 
doing  hurt  to  others,  and  incurring  the  curse  of  him 
who  causeth  the  blind  to  stumble  ?  Are  we  not  heavy 
laden  indeed  when  we  cannot  be  sure  that  even  yet  we 
are  thoroughly  on  the  right  track — when  we  feel  that 
peradventure  we  are  still  unconsciously  continuing  the 
mischief  in  some  other  form  ?  Yet  is  not  the  promise 
true  ? — "  I  will  give  you  rest."  I  will  give  you  pardon 
for  the  past,  and  guidance  for  the  future.  I  will  deliver 
you  from  the  feeling  that  you  have  been  all  your  life 
sowing  seeds  of  mischief,  sure  to  spring  up  and  pervert 
those  whom  you  love  most  dearly.  I  will  give  you 
comfort  in  the  thought  that  as  I  have  guided  you,  I  will 
guide  them,  and  you  shall  have  a  vision  of  the  future, 
that  may  no  doubt  include  some  of  the  terrible  features 
of  the  shipwreck  of  St.  Paul,  but  of  which  the  end  will 
be  the  same — "  and  so  it  came  to  pass  that  they 
escaped  all  safe  to  land." 

And  let  us  learn  a  lesson  of  charity.     Let  us  learn 

22 


338  THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 

to  be  very  considerate  of  mischief  done  b}''  others  either 
unintentionally  or  in  ignorance.  What  more  inexcus- 
able than  the  excitement  of  parents  over  their  children  or 
of  masters  over  their  servants,  when,  most  undesignedly 
and  not  through  sheer  carelessness,  an  article  of  some 
value  is  broken  or  damaged  ?  Have  you  never  done 
such  a  thing  yourself?  And  if  a  like  torrent  fell  on 
you  then  from  your  parent  or  master,  did  you  not  feel 
bitterly  that  it  was  unjust  ?  And  do  you  not  even 
now  have  the  same  feeling  when  your  temper  cools  ? 
How  bitter  the  thought  of  having  done  injustice  to 
those  dependent  on  you,  and  of  having  created  in  their 
bosoms  a  sullen  sense  of  wrong  1  Let  them  have 
their  city  of  refuge  for  undesigned  offences,  and  never 
again  pursue  them  or  fall  on  them  in  the  excited  spirit 
of  the  avenger  of  blood  ! 

So  also  with  regard  to  opinions.  Many  who  differ 
from  us  in  religious  opinion  differ  through  ignorance. 
They  have  inherited  their  opinions  from  their  parents 
or  their  other  ancestors.  Their  views  are  shared  by 
nearly  all  whom  they  love  and  with  whom  they  asso- 
ciate ;  they  are  contained  in  their  familiar  books  ;  they 
are  woven  into  the  web  of  their  daily  life.  If  they 
were  better  instructed,  if  their  minds  were  more  free 
from  prejudice,  they  might  agree  with  us  more.  Let 
us  make  for  them  the  allowance  of  ignorance,  and  let 
us  make  it  not  bitterly  but  respectfully.  They  are 
doing  much  mischief,  it  may  be.  They  are  retarding 
the  progress  of  beneficent  truth ;  they  are  thwarting 
your  endeavours  to  spread  Divine  fight.  But  they  are 
doing  it  ignorantly.  If  you  are  not  called  to  provide 
for  them  a  city  of  refuge,  cover  them  at  least  with  the 
mantle  of  charity.  Believe  that  their  intentions  are 
better   than  their   acts.     Live   in   the  hope   of  a    day 


xxj  THE   CITIES   OF  REFUGE.  339 

^'  when  perfect  light  shall  pour  its  rays/'  when  all  the 
mists  of  prejudice  shall  be  scattered,  and  you  shall 
perhaps  find  that  in  all  that  is  vital  in  Christian  truth 
and  for  the  Christian  life,  you  and  your  brethren  were 
not  so  far  separate  after  all. 


CHAPTER   XXVIII. 

THE  INHERITANCE  OF  THE  LEVITES. 
Joshua  xxi.  i — 42. 

ONCE  and  again  we  have  found  reference  made  to 
the  fact  that  Levites  received  no  territorial  in- 
heritance among  their  brethren  (xiii.  14,  33,  xiv.  3,  4). 
They  had  a  higher  privilege  :  the  Lord  was  their  in- 
heritance. In  the  present  chapter  we  have  an  elaborate 
account  of  the  arrangements  for  their  settlement ;  it 
will  therefore  be  suitable  here  to  rehearse  their  history, 
and  ascertain  the  relation  they  now  stood  in  to  the 
rest  of  the  tribes. 

In  the  days  of  the  patriarchs  and  during  the  sojourn 
in  Egypt  there  were  no  official  priests.  Each  head 
of  a  house  discharged  the  duties  of  the  priesthood  in 
patriarchal  times,  and  a  similar  arrangement  prevailed 
during  the  residence  in  Egypt.  The  whole  nation  was 
holy ;  in  this  sense  it  was  a  nation  of  priests ;  all  were 
set  apart  for  the  service  of  God.  By-and-by  it  pleased 
God  to  select  a  portion  of  the  nation  specially  for  His 
service,  to  establish,  as  it  were,  a  holy  of  holies  within 
the  consecrated  nation.  The  first  intimation  of  this 
was  given  on  that  awful  occasion  when  the  firstborn 
of  the  Egyptians  was  slain.  In  token  of  His  mercy  in 
sparing  Israel  on  that  night,  all  the  firstborn  of  Israel, 
both  of  man  and  beast,  were  specially  consecrated  to 

340 


xxi.  1-42.]     THE  INHERITANCE   OF   THE  LEVITES.         341 

the  Lord.  The  animals  were  to  be  offered  in  sacrifice, 
except  in  the  case  of  some,  such  as  the  ass,  not  suited 
for  sacrifice  ;  these  were  to  be  redeemed  by  the  sacrifice 
of  another  animal.  Afterwards  a  similar  arrangement 
was  made  with  reference  to  the  firstborn  of  men,  the 
tribe  of  Levi  being  substituted  for  them  (see  Numb.  iii. 
12).  But  this  arrangement  was  not  made  till  after  the 
tribe  of  Levi  had  shown,  by  a  special  act  of  service, 
that  they  were  fitted  for  this  honour. 

Certainly  we  should  not  have  thought  beforehand 
that  the  descendants  of  Levi  would  be  the  specially 
sacred  tribe.  Levi  himself  comes  before  us  in  the 
patriarchal  history  in  no  attractive  light.  He  and 
Simeon  were  associated  together  in  that  massacre  of 
the  Shechemites,  which  we  can  never  read  of  without 
horror  (Gen.  xxxiv.  25).  Levi  was  likewise  an  accom- 
plice with  his  brethren  in  the  lamentable  tragedy  of 
Joseph.  And  as  nothing  better  is  recorded  of  him,  we 
are  apt  to  think  of  him  as  through  life  the  same.  But 
this  were  hardly  fair.  Why  should  not  Levi  have 
shared  in  that  softening  influence  which  undoubtedly 
came  on  the  other  brethren  ?  Why  may  he  not  have 
become  a  true  man  of  God,  and  transmitted  to  his  tribe 
the  memory  and  the  example  of  a  holy  character  ? 
Certain  it  is  that  we  find  among  his  descendants  in 
Egypt  some  very  noble  specimens  of  godliness.  The 
mother  of  Moses,  a  daughter  of  the  house  of  Levi,  is 
a  woman  of  incomparable  faith.  Moses,  her  son,  is 
emphatically  *'  the  man  of  God."  Aaron,  his  brother, 
moved  by  a  Divine  influence,  goes  to  the  wilderness 
to  find  him  when  the  very  crisis  of  oppression  seems  to 
indicate  that  God's  time  for  the  deliverance  of  Israel 
is  drawing  nigh.  Miriam,  his  sister,  though  far  from 
faultless,  piously  watchedihis  bulrush-cradle,  and  after- 


342  THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 


wards  led  the   choir  whose  praises  rose  to   God  in  a 
great  volume  of  thanksgiving  after  crossing  the  sea. 

The  first  honour  conferred  on  Levi  in  connection 
with  religious  service  was  the  appointment  of  Aaron 
and  his  sons  to  the  special  service  of  the  priest- 
hood (Exod.  xxviii.  ;  Numb,  xviii.  i).  This  did  not 
necessarily  involve  any  spiritual  distinction  for  the 
whole  tribe  of  which  Aaron  was  a  member,  nor  was 
that  distinction  conferred  at  that  time.  It  was  after 
the  affair  of  the  golden  calf  that  the  tribe  of  Levi  re- 
ceived this  honour.  For  when  Moses,  in  his  holy  zeal 
against  that  scandal,  called  upon  all  who  were  on  the 
Lord's  side  to  come  to  him,  ''  all  the  sons  of  Levi 
gathered  themselves  unto  him"  (Exod.  xxxii.  26). 
This  seems  to  imply  that  that  tribe  alone  held  itself 
aloof  from  the  atrocious  idolatry  into  which  even  Aaron 
had  been  drawn.  And  apparently  it  was  in  connection 
with  this  high  act  of  service  that  Levi  was  selected  as 
the  sacred  tribe,  and  in  due  time  formally  substituted 
for  the  firstborn  in  every  family  (Numb.  iii.  12,  sqq.y 
viii.  6  sqq.y  xviii.  2  sqq.y  From  this  time  the  tribe  of 
Levi  stood  to  God  in  a  relation  of  peculiar  honour  and 
sacredness,  and  had  duties  assigned  to  them  in  harmony 
with  this  eminent  position. 

The  tribe  of  Levi  consisted  of  three  main  branches, 
corresponding  to  Levi's  three  sons — Kohath,  Gershon, 
and  Merari.  The  Kohathites,  though  apparently  not  the 
oldest  (see  Numb.  iii.  17)  were  the  most  distinguished, 
Moses  and  Aaron  being  of  that  branch.  As  Levites, 
the  Kohathites  had  charge  of  the  ark  and  its  sacred 
furniture,  guarding  it  at  all  times,  and  carrying  it  from 
place  to  place  during  the  journeys  of  the  wilderness. 
The  Gershonites  had  charge  of  the  tabernacle,  with 
its  cords,  curtains,  and  coverings.     The  sons  of  Merari 


xxi.  1-42.]     THE  INHERITANCE   OF   THE  LEVITES.         343 

.had  charge  of  the  more  sohd  parts  of  the  tabernacle, 
'*  its  boards  and  bars,  its  pillars  and  its  pins,  and  all 
the  vessels  thereof."  Korah,  the  leader  of  the  rebellion 
against  Moses  and  Aaron,  was,  like  them,  of  the  family 
of  Kohath,  and  the  object  of  his  rebellion  was  to  punish 
what  he  considered  the  presumption  of  the  two  brothers 
in  giving  to  Aaron  the  special  honours  of  a  priesthood 
which,  in  former  days,  had  belonged  alike  to  all  the 
congregation  (Numb.  xvi.  3).  We  are  accustomed  to 
think  that  the  supernatural  proofs  of  the  Divine  com- 
mission to  Moses  were  so  overwhelming  that  it  would 
have  been  out  of  the  question  for  any  man  to  challenge 
them.  But  many  things  show  that,  though  we  might 
have  thought  opposition  to  Moses  impossible,  it  prevailed 
to  a  great  extent.  The  making  of  the  golden  calf,  the 
report  of  the  spies  and  the  commotion  that  followed, 
the  rebellion  of  Korah,  and  many  other  things,  prove 
that  the  prevalent  spirit  was  usually  that  of  unbelier 
and  rebellion,  and  that  it  was  only  after  many  signal 
miracles  and  signal  judgments  that  Moses  was  enabled 
at  last  to  exercise  an  unchallenged  authority.  The 
rationalist  idea,  that  it  was  enthusiasm  for  Moses  that 
led  the  people  to  follow  him  out  of  Egypt,  and  endure 
all  the  hardships  of  the  wilderness,  and  that  there 
is  nothing  more  in  the  Exodus  than  the  story  of  an 
Eastern  nation  leaving  one  country  under  a  trusted 
leader  to  settle  in  another,  is  one  to  which  the  whole 
tenor  of  the  history  offers  unqualified  contradiction. 
And  not  the  least  valid  ground  of  opposition  is  the 
bitter,  deadl}^  spirit  in  which  attempts  to  frustrate 
Moses  were  so  often  made. 

Many  of  the  duties  of  the  Levites  as  detailed  in 
the  Pentateuch  were  duties  for  the  wilderness.  After 
the  settlement  in  Canaan,  and  the  establishment  of  the 


344  THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 

tabernacle  at  Shiloh,  these  duties  would  undergo  a 
change.  The  Levites  were  not  all  needed  to  be  about 
the  tabernacle.  The  Gibeonites  indeed  had  been  retained 
as  ''hewers  of  wood  and  drawers  of  water  for  the 
congregation  and  for  the  altar  of  the  Lord,"  so  that 
the  more  laborious  part  of  the  work  at  Shiloh  would 
be  done  by  them.  If  the  Levites  had  clustered  like 
a  swarm  of  bees  around  the  sacred  establishment,  loss 
would  have  been  sustained  alike  by  themselves  and 
by  the  people.  It  was  desirable,  in  accordance  with 
the  great  law  of  distribution  already  referred  to,  that 
they  should  be  dispersed  over  the  whole  country.  The 
men  that  stood  nearest  to  God,  and  who  were  a  standing 
testimony  to  the  superiority  of  the  spiritual  over  the 
secular,  who  were  Divine  witnesses,  indeed,  to  the 
higher  part  of  man's  nature,  as  well  as  to  God's  pre- 
eminent claims,  must  have  failed  egregiously  of  their 
mission  had  they  been  confined  to  a  single  city  or  to  the 
territory  of  a  single  tribe.  Jacob  had  foretold  both 
of  Simeon  and  Levi  that  they  would  be  *'  divided  in 
Jacob  and  scattered  in  Israel."  In  the  case  of  Levi, 
the  scattering  was  overruled  for  good.  Designed  to 
point  God-wards  and  heavenwards,  the  mission  of  Levi 
was  to  remind  the  people  over  the  whole  country  that 
they  were  not  mere  earth-worms,  created  to  grub  and 
burrow  in  the  ground,  but  beings  with  a  nobler  destiny, 
whose  highest  honour  it  was  to  be  in  communion  with 
God. 

The  functions  of  the  Levites  throughout  the  countr}^ 
seem  to  have  differed  somewhat  in  successive  periods 
of  their  history.  Here,  as  in  other  matters,  there  was 
doubtless  some  development,  according  as  new  wants 
appeared  in  the  spiritual  condition  of  the  people,  and 
consequently  new  obligations  for  the  Levites  to  fulfil. 


xxi.  1-42.]     THE  INHERITANCE   OF   THE  LEVITES.         345 


When  the  people  fell  under  special  temptations  to 
idolatry,  it  would  naturally  fall  to  the  Levites,  in  con- 
nection with  the  priesthood,  to  warn  them  against  these 
temptations,  and  strive  to  keep  them  faithful  to  their 
God.  But  it  does  not  appear  that  even  the  Levites 
could  be  trusted  to  continue  faithful.  It  is  a  sad  and 
singular  fact  that  a  grandson  of  Moses  was  one  of  the 
first  to  go  astray.  The  Authorized  Version,  indeed,  says 
that  the  young  man  who  became  a  priest  to  the  Danites 
when  they  set  up  a  graven  image  in  the  city  of  Dan, 
was  Jonathan,  the  son  of  Gershom,  the  son  of  Manasseh 
(Judg.  xviii.  30).  But  the  Revised  Version,  not  without 
authority,  calls  him  Jonathan,  the  son  of  Gershom, 
the  son  of  Moses.  Here  we  have  a  glimpse  of  two 
remarkable  facts  :  in  the  first  place,  that  a  grandson 
of  Moses,  a  Levite,  was  located  in  so  confined  a 
place  that  he  had  to  leave  it  in  search  of  another,  ''  to 
sojourn  where  he  could  find  a  place  " — so  entirely  had 
Moses  abstained  from  steps  to  secure  superior  provision 
for  his  own  family  ;  and,  in  the  second  place,  that  even 
with  his  remarkable  advantages  and  relations,  this 
Jonathan,  in  defiance  of  the  law,  was  tempted  to  assume 
an  office  of  priesthood,  and  to  discharge  that  office  at 
the  shrine  of  a  graven  image.  We  are  far  indeed  from 
the  truth  when  we  suppose  that  the  whole  nation  of 
Israel  submitted  to  the  law  of  Moses  from  the  beginning 
with  absolute  loyalty,  or  when  we  accept  the  prevalent 
practice  among  them  at  any  one  period  as  undoubted 
evidence  of  what  was  then  the  law. 

But  let  us  now  turn  our  attention  to  the  distribution 
of  the  Levites  as  it  was  planned.  We  say  deUberately 
**  as  it  was  planned,"  because  there  is  every  reason  to 
believe  that  the  plan  was  not  effectually  carried  out. 
In  no  case  does  there  seem  to  have  been  such  a  failure 


346  THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA 

of  official  arrangements  as  in  the  case  of  Levi.  And 
the  reason  is  not  difficult  to  find.  Few  of  the  cities 
allotted  to  them  were  free  of  Canaanites  at  the  time. 
To  get  actual  possession  of  the  cities  the}^  must  have 
dispossessed  the  remaining  Canaanites.  But,  scattered 
as  they  were,  this  was  peculiarly  difficult.  And  the  other 
tribes  seem  to  have  been  in  no  humour  to  help  them. 
Hence  it  is  that  in  the  early  period  of  the  Judges  we 
find  Levites  wandering  here  and  there  seeking  for  a 
settlement,  and  glad  of  any  occupation  they  could  find 
(Judg.  xviii.  7,  xix.  i). 

The  provision  made  by  Joshua  for  the  Levites  was 
that  out  of  all  the  other  tribes,  forty-eight  cities  with 
their  suburbs,  including  the  six  cities  of  refuge,  were 
allotted  to  them.  It  is  necessary  for  us  here  to  call 
to  mind  how  much  Canaan,  like  other  Eastern  countries 
and  some  countries  not  Eastern,  was  a  land  of  towns 
and  villages.  Cottages  and  country-houses  standing 
by  themselves  were  hardly  known.  A  house  in  its 
own  grounds — '*  a  lodge  in  a  garden  of  cucumbers  " 
— might  shelter  a  man  for  a  time,  but  could  not  be 
his  permanent  home.  The  country  was  too  liable  to 
hostile  raids  for  its  inhabitants  to  dwell  thus  unprotected. 
Most  of  the  people  had  their  homes  in  the  towns  and 
villages  with  which  their  fields  were  connected.  In 
consequence  of  this  each  town  had  a  circuit  of  land 
around  it,  which  alwa3^s  fell  to  the  conquerors  when 
the  town  was  taken.  And  it  is  this  fact  that  sometimes 
makes  the  boundaries  of  the  tribes  so  difficult  to  follow, 
because  these  boundaries  had  to  embrace  all  the  lands 
connected  with  the  cities  which  they  embraced.  If  it 
be  asked.  Did  the  Levites  receive  as  part  of  their 
inheritance  all  the  lands  adjacent  to  their  cities,  the 
answer  is,   No.      For  in   that  case  the   only  difference 


xxi.  1-42.]     THE  INHERITANCE  OF   THE  LEVITES.         347 

between  them  and  the  other  tribes  would  have  been 
that  the  Levites  had  forty-eight  Httle  territories  instead 
of  one  large  possession,  and  there  would  have  been  no 
ground  for  the  distinction  so  emphatically  made  that 
*'the  Lord  was  their  inheritance,"  or  ''the  sacrifices  of 
the  Lord  made  by  fire." 

The  cities  given  to  the  Levites,  even  when  cleared 
of  Canaanites,  were  not  possessed  by  Levites  alone. 
We  may  gather  the  normal  state  of  affairs  from  what 
is  said  regarding  Hebron  and  Caleb.  Hebron  was  a 
Levitical  city,  a  city  of  the  priests,  a  city  of  refuge  ; 
they  gave  to  the  Kohathites  the  city,  with  the  suburbs 
thereof  roundabout  ;  '*  but  the  fields  of  the  city,  and 
the  villages  thereof,  gave  they  to  Caleb  the  son  of 
J ephunneh  for  his  possession  "  (vv.  1 1,  12).  What  are 
called  '*  suburbs,"  or,  as  some  prefer  to  render,  *'  cattle- 
drives,"  extended  for  two  thousand  cubits  round  about 
the  city  on  every  side  (Numb.  xxxv.  5),  and  were  used 
only  for  pasture.  It  behoved  the  Levites  to  have  cattle 
of  some  kind  to  supply  them  with  their  food,  the  main 
part  of  which,  besides  fruit,  was  milk  and  its  produce. 
But,  beyond  this,  the  Levites  were  not  entangled  with  the 
business  of  husbandry.  They  were  left  free  for  more 
spiritual  service.  It  was  their  part  to  raise  the  souls 
of  the  people  above  the  level  of  earth,  and,  like  the 
angel  in  the  ''  Pilgrim's  Progress,"  call  on  those  who 
might  otherwise  have  worshipped  the  mud-rake  to  lift 
up  their  eyes  to  the  crown  of  glory,  and  accept  the 
heavenly  gift. 

In  fact,  the  whole  function  of  the  Levites,  ideally  at 
least,  was  as  Moses  sung  : — 

"  And  of  Levi  he  said, 
Let  thy  Urim  and  thy  Thummim  be  with  thy  godly  one, 
Whom  thou  didst  prove  at  Massah, 


348  THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 


With  whom  thou  didst  strive  at  the  waters  of  Meribah; 

Who  said  of  his  father,  and  of  his  mother,  I  have  not  seen  him ; 

Neither  did  he  acknowledge  his  brethren, 

Nor  knew  his  own  children  : 

For  they  have  observed  Thy  word, 

And  kept  Thy  covenant. 

They  shall  teach  Jacob   Thy  judgments, 

Aitd  Israel  Thy  law : 

They  shall  put  incense  before  Thee, 

And  whole  burnt  offering  upon  Thine  altar. 

Bless,  Lord,  his  substance, 

And  accept  the  work  of  his  hands  : 

Smite  through  the  loins  of  them  that  rise  up  against  him, 

And  of  them  that  hate  him,  that  they  rise  not  again." 

Deut.  xxxiii.  8-1 1  (R.V.). 

But  to  come  now  to  the  division  itself.  The  Koha- 
thites,  or  leading  family,  had  no  fewer  than  thirteen 
cities  in  the  tribes  of  Judah,  Benjamin,  and  Simeon,  and 
ten  more  in  Ephraim,  Dan,  and  Manasseh.  The  thirteen 
in  Judah,  Benjamin,  and  Simeon  were  for  the  priests  ; 
the  other  ten  were  for  the  other  branches  of  the 
Kohathites.  At  first  the  priests,  strictly  so  called, 
could  not  occupy  them  all.  But,  as  the  history  advances, 
the  priests  become  more  and  more  prominent,  while  the 
Levites  as  such  seem  to  hold  a  less  and  less  conspicuous 
place.  In  the  Psalms,  for  example,  we  sometimes  find 
the  house  of  Levi  left  out  when  all  classes  of  worship- 
pers are  called  on  to  praise  the  Lord.  In  the  135th 
Psalm  all  are  included  : — 

"  O  house  of  Israel,  bless  ye  the  Lord  : 
O  house  of  Aaron,  bless  ye  the  Lord  : 
O  house  of  Levi,  bless  ye  the  Lord  : 
Ye  that  fear  the  Lord,  bless  ye  the  Lord." 

But  in  the  1 15th  the  Levites  are  left  out : — 

"  O  Israel,  trust  thou  in  the  Lord  : 
He  is  their  help  and  their  shield. 
O  house  of  Aaron,  trust  ye  in  the  Lord  : 
He  is  their  help  and  their  shield. 


xxi.  1-42.]     THE  INHERITANCE  OF  THE  LEVITES.         349 

Ye  that  fear  the  Lord,  trust  in  the  Lord  : 
He  is  their  help  and  their  shield." 

And  in  the  1 1 8th  : — 

"Let  Israel  now  say 
That  His  mercy  endureth  for  ever. 
Let  the  house  of  Aaron  now  say 
That  His  mercy  endureth  for  ever. 
Let  them  now  that  fear  the  Lord  say 
That  His  mercy  endureth  for  ever." 

There  is  this  to  be  said  for  the  region  where  the 
priests,  the  house  of  Aaron,  had  their  cities,  viz.,  the 
tribe  of  Judah,  that  it  maintained  its  integrity  longest 
of  any ;  nor  did  it  thoroughly  succumb  to  idolatry  till 
the  dark  days  of  Manasseh,  one  of  its  later  kings. 
But,  on  the  other  hand,  in  New  Testament  times,  Judaea 
was  the  most  bigoted  part  of  the  country,  and  the  most 
bitterly  opposed  to  our  Lord.  And  the  explanation 
is,  that  the  true  spirit  of  Divine  service  had  utterly 
evaporated  from  among  the  priesthood,  and  the  miser- 
able spirit  of  formalism  had  come  in.  The  living  sap 
of  the  institution  had  been  turned  into  stone,  and  the 
plant  of  renown  of  early  days  had  become  a  stony 
fossil.  So  true  is  it  that  the  best  institutions,  when 
perverted  from  their  true  end,  become  the  sources 
of  greatest  evil,  and  the  highest  gifts  of  heaven,  when 
seized  by  the  devil  and  turned  to  his  purposes,  become 
the  most  efficient  instruments  of  hell. 

The  other  portions  of  the  family  of  Kohath  were 
distributed  in  ten  cities  over  the  central  part  of 
Western  Palestine.  Some  of  them  were  important 
centres  of  influence,  such  as  Bethhoron,  Shechem,  and 
Taanach.  But  the  influence  of  the  Levites  for  good 
seems  to  have  been  feeble  in  this  region,  for  it  was 
here  that  Jeroboam  reigned,  and  here  that  Ahab  and 
Jezebel  all    but    obliterated    the    worship    of  Jehovah. 


350  THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 

It  is  commonly  believed  that  Samuel  was  a  member 
of  the  tribe  of  Levi,  although  there  is  some  confusion 
in  the  genealogy  as  given  in  i  Chron.  vi.  28,  34 ;  yet 
Ramathaim  Zophim,  his  father's  place  of  abode,  was 
not  one  of  the  Levitical  cities.  And  Samuel's  influence 
was  exerted  more  on  the  southern  than  the  central 
district  ;  for,  after  the  destruction  of  Shiloh,  Mizpeh 
appears  to  have  been  his  ordinary  residence  (i  Sam. 
vii.  6),  and  afterwards  Ramah^  (vii.  17).  It  would 
indeed  be  a  pleasant  thought  that  the  inefficiency  of  the 
Kohathites  as  a  whole  was  in  some  measure  redeemed 
by  the  incomparable  service  of  Samuel.  If  Samuel  was 
a  Levite,  he  was  a  noble  instance  of  what  may  be  done 
by  one  zealous  and  consecrated  man,  amid  the  all  but 
universal  defection  of  his  official  brethren. 

The  Gershonites  were  placed  in  cities  in  eastern 
Manasseh,  Issachar,  Asher,  and  Naphtali;  while  the 
Merarites  were  in  Zebulun,  and  in  the  transjordanic 
tribes  of  Gad  and  Reuben.  They  thus  garrisoned  the 
northern  and  eastern  districts.  Those  placed  in  the 
north  ought  to  have  been  barriers  against  the  gross 
idolatry  of  Tyre  and  Sidon,  and  those  in  the  east, 
besides  resisting  the  idolatry  of  the  desert  tribes,  should 
have  held  back  that  of  Damascus  and  Syria.  But  there 
is  very  little  to  show  that  the  Levites  as  a  whole  rose 
to  the  dignity  of  their  mission  in  these  regions,  or  that 
they  formed  a  very  efficient  barrier  against  the  idolatry 
and  corruption  which  they  were  designed  to  meet. 
No  doubt  they  did  much  to  train  the  people  to  the 
outward  observance  of  the  law.  They  would  call  them 
to  the  celebration  of  the  great  annual   festivals,   and 

'  Ramathaim  and  Ramah  are  used  interchangeably  (i  Sam.  i.  i  and 
19,  ii.  II). 


xxi.  1-42.]     THE  INHERITANCE  OF   THE  LEVITES.         351 


of  the  new  moons  and  other  observances  that  had 
to  be  locally  celebrated.  They  would  look  after  cases 
of  ceremonial  defilement,  and  no  doubt  they  would 
be  careful  to  enjoin  payment  of  the  tithes  to  which 
they  had  a  claim.  They  would  do  their  best  to  main- 
tain the  external  distinctions  in  religion,  by  which  the 
nation  was  separated  from  its  neighbours.  But,  except 
in  rare  cases,  they  do  not  appear  to  have  been  spiritually 
earnest,  nor  to  have  done  much  of  that  service  which 
Samuel  did  in  the  southern  part  of  the  country. 
Externalism  and  formalism  seem  to  have  been  their 
most  frequent  characteristics ;  and  externalism  and 
formalism  are  poor  weapons  when  the  enemy  cometh 
in  like  a  flood. 

And,  whatever  may  have  been  the  usual  life  and 
work  of  the  Levites  over  the  country,  they  never  seem 
to  have  realized  the  glory  of  the  distinction  divinely 
accorded  to  them — ''The  Lord  is  their  inheritance." 
Few,  indeed,  in  any  age  or  country  have  come  to 
know  what  is  meant  by  having  God  for  their  portion. 
Unbelief  can  never  grasp  that  there  is  a  life  in  God — 
a  real  life,  so  full  of  enjoyment  that  all  other  happiness 
may  be  dispensed  with ;  a  real  property,  so  rich  in 
every  blessing,  that  the  goods  and  chattels  of  this 
world  are  mere  shadows  in  comparison.  Yet  that 
there  have  been  men  profoundly  impressed  by  these 
convictions,  in  all  ages  and  in  many  lands,  amid  pre- 
vaihng  ungodliness,  cannot  be  denied.  How  otherwise 
is  such  a  life  as  that  of  St.  Bernard  or  that  of  St.  Francis 
to  be  accounted  for  ?  Or  that  of  St.  Columba  and  the 
missionaries  of  lona  ?  Or,  to  go  farther  back,  that  of 
St.  Paul  ?  There  is  a  magic  virtue,  or  rather  a  Divine 
power,  in  real  consecration.  '*  Them  that  honour  Me,  I 
will  honour."     It  is  the  want  of  such  men  that  makes 


552  THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 


our  churches  feeble.  It  is  our  mixing  up  our  own 
interests  with  the  interests  of  God's  kingdom  and 
refusing  to  leave  self  out  of  view  while  we  profess  to 
give  ourselves  wholly  to  God,  that  explains  the  slowness 
of  our  progress.  If  the  Levites  had  all  been  consecrated 
men,  idolatry  and  its  great  brood  of  corruptions  would 
never  have  spread  over  the  land  of  Israel.  If  all 
Christian  ministers  were  like  their  Master,  Christianity 
would  spread  like  wildfire,  and  in  a  very  little  time 
the  light  of  salvation  would  brighten  the  globe. 

Note. — In  this  chapter  we  have  accepted  the  statements  of  the 
Pentateuch  regarding  the  Levites  as  they  stand.  We  readily  own 
that  there  are  difficulties  not  a  few  connected  with  the  received  view. 
The  modern  critical  theory  that  maintains  that  the  Levitical  order 
was  a  much  later  institution  would  no  doubt  remove  many  of  these 
difficulties,  but  only  by  creating  other  difficulties  far  more  serious. 
Besides,  the  hypothesis  of  Wellhausen  that  the  tribe  of  Levi  was 
destroyed  with  Simeon  at  the  invasion  of  Canaan — having  no  founda- 
tion to  rest  on,  except  the  assumption  that  the  prophecy  ascribed 
to  Jacob  was  written  at  a  later  date — is  ludicrously  inadequate  to 
sustain  the  structure  made  to  rest  on  it.  Nor  is  it  conceivable  that, 
after  the  captivity,  the  priests  should  have  been  able  to  make  the 
people  believe  a  totally  different  account  of  the  history  of  one  of  the 
tribes  from  that  which  had  previously  been  received.  It  is  likewise 
incredible  that  the  Levites  should  have  been  "  annihilated  "  or  "  ex- 
tinguished "  in  the  days  of  Joshua,  without  a  single  allusion  in  the 
history  to  so  terrible  a  fact.  How  inconsistent  with  the  concern 
expressed  when  the  tribe  of  Benjamin  was  in  danger  of  extinction 
(Judg.  xxi.  17).  The  loss  of  a  tribe  was  like  the  loss  of  a  limb  ;  it 
would  have  marred  essentially  the  symmetry  of  the  nation. 


CHAPTER   XXIX. 

NO  FAILURE  OF  GOD'S  PROMISE. 
Joshua  xxi.  43 — 45. 

THE  historian  has  reached  a  point  where  he  may 
stand  still  and  look  back.  One  look  is  com- 
paratively limited ;  another  reaches  very  far.  The 
immediate  survey  extends  only  over  the  last  few  years ; 
the  remote  embraces  centuries,  and  goes  back  to  the 
time  of  Abraham. 

The  historian  sees  the  venerable  patriarch  of  the 
nation  among  his  flocks  and  herds  in  Ur  of  the 
Chaldees ;  receiving  there  a  Divine  summons  to  remove 
to  an  unknown  land ;  obeying  the  call,  tarrying  at 
Haran,  then  traversing  the  desert,  and  crossing  the 
Jordan.  At  Shechem,  at  Bethel,  at  Mamre,  and  at 
Beersheba,  he  perceives  him  listening  to  the  Divine 
voice  that  promises  that,  stranger  and  pilgrim  though 
he  was,  the  Lord  would  give  his  posterity  all  that  land; 
that  he  would  bless  those  that  blessed  him,  and  curse 
those  that  cursed  him  ;  and  that  in  him  and  in  his 
seed  all  the  nations  of  the  earth  should  be  blessed. 

For  one  hundred  long  years  Abraham  had  wandered 
over  the  country  without  so  much  as  a  house  or 
homestead  in  it.  Isaac  had  come  after  him,  living  the 
same  pilgrim  life.  Jacob,  with  a  much  more  stirring 
and  troubled   life,  had   in  his  old  age   gone    down   to 

353  23 


354  THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 

Joseph  in  Egypt,  leaving  but  one  field  in  the  country 
which  he  could  call  his  own. 

Then  came  the  long  centuries  of  Egyptian  bondage. 
At  last  the  Divine  ca.ll  is  heard  to  leave  Egypt,  but 
after  this,  forty  long  years  have  still  to  be  spent  in 
the  wilderness.  Then  Moses,  the  great  leader  of  the 
people,  dies — dies  at  the  very  time  when  he  is  apparently 
most  needed,  just  at  the  very  crisis  of  Israel's  history. 

But  Joshua  comes  in  Moses'  room,  and  the  Lord  is 
with  Joshua ;  He  rewards  his  faith  and  gives  him 
victory  over  all  his  enemies.  And  now  at  last  comes 
the  fulfilment  of  the  promises  to  the  fathers,  hoary 
with  age,  and  seemingly  long  forgotten.  The  bill  has 
at  last  matured  and  fallen  due.  After  so  many  genera- 
tions, it  might  be  thought  that  it  would  have  been 
enough  to  discharge  the  main  substance  of  the  obligation 
or  that  some  compromise  might  have  been  proposed 
reducing  the  claim.  After  having  lain  long  out  of 
their  money,  creditors  are  usually  ready  to  accept  a 
composition.  But  this  was  not  God's  method  of  settle- 
ment. During  the  whole  period  of  Joshua's  leadership, 
God  had  been  doing  nothing  but  discharging  old 
obligations.  Not  one  word  of  the  original  bill  had 
been  obliterated ;  not  one  item  had  been  allowed  to 
lapse  through  time.  East  and  west  and  north  and 
south  He  had  been  giving  what  He  had  promised  to 
give.  And  now,  as  the  transaction  comes  to  an  end, 
it  is  seen  that  nothing  has  been  omitted  or  forgotten. 
"There  failed  not  ought  of  any  good  thing  which  the 
Lord  had  spoken  concerning  Israel ;  all  came  to  pass." 
He  proved  Himself,  as  Moses  had  said,  '^the  faithful 
God,  which  keepeth  covenant  and  mercy  with  them 
that  love  Him,  and  keep  His  commandments  to  a 
thousand  generations." 


xxi.  43-45]     NO  FAILURE  OF  GOD'S  PROMISE.  355 


Three  gifts  are  specified  which  God  bestowed  on 
Israel  :  possessions,  rest,  and  victory.  First,  He  gave 
them  the  land  which  He  had  sworn  to  give  unto  their 
fathers,  and  they  possessed  it ;  next.  He  gave  them 
rest  round  about,  according  to  all  that  He  had  sworn 
to  their  fathers ;  and,  lastly,  He  gave  them  victory  over 
all  their  enemies.  '*  He  satisfied  the  longing  soul,  and 
filled  the  hungry  soul  with  goodness."  He  brought 
His  bride  to  her  home,  and  surrounded  her  with 
comforts.  And  had  the  bride  only  been  as  faithful  to 
her  obligations  as  the  Divine  bridegroom,  it  might  have 
been  said  that 

"Time  had  run  back,  and  fetched  the  age  of  gold." 

But,  it  may  perhaps  be  said, — this  is  only  the 
historian's  view  of  the  matter,  and  it  is  hardly  in 
accordance  with  facts.  Are  we  not  told  that,  at  an 
early  period,  a  colony  of  the  tribe  of  Dan  had  to  go 
elsewhere  in  search  of  land,  because  they  were  too 
hampered  in  the  allotment  they  had  received  ?  And, 
in  the  beginning  of  Judges,  are  we  not  told  that  after 
the  death  of  Joshua,  Judah  and  Simeon  had  a  desperate 
tussle  with  Canaanites  and  Perizzites  who  were  still 
in  their  territories,  and  that  in  Bezek  alone  there  were 
slain  of  them  ten  thousand  men  ?  And  is  not  the 
whole  of  the  first  chapter  of  Judges  a  record  of  the 
relations  of  Israel  in  various  places  to  the  original 
inhabitants,  from  which  it  appears  that  very  many  of 
the  Canaanites  continued  to  dwell  in  the  land  ?  Surely 
this  was  not  what  God's  promise  to  the  fathers  was 
fitted  to  convey.  Had  not  God  promised  that  He 
would  "drive  out"  the  seven  nations,  and  give  the 
seed  of  Abraham  possession  of  the  whole  ?  How  then 
could   His  word   be  said  to  be  implemented  when  so 


356  THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 

many  of  the  original  inhabitants  remained  ?  And,  in 
particular,  how  could  the  historian  of  Joshua  say  so 
explicitly  that  **  there  failed  not  ought  of  any  good 
thing  which  the  Lord  had  spoken  unto  the  house  of 
Israel." 

In  answer  to  this  objection  it  is  to  be  remarked  that 
God  had  never  promised  to  give  the  people  full  posses- 
sion of  the  land  save  through  their  own  exertions  made 
in  dependence  on  Him.  Their  possessions  were  not  to 
fall  into  their  hands  as  the  manna  fell  in  the  wilderness 
or  as  the  water  gushed  from  the  rock.  The  seven 
nations  were  not  to  rush  from  before  them  the  moment 
they  crossed  the  Jordan.  God  always  meant  that  they 
were  to  be  His  instruments  for  clearing  the  country. 
Now,  that  clearance  was  evidently  designed  to  be 
effected  in  two  ways.  First,  under  Joshua,  a  general 
encounter  with  the  former  possessors  was  to  take 
place,  their  confederacies  were  to  be  shattered,  their 
spirit  was  to  be  broken,  and  to  a  certain  extent  their 
lands  were  to  be  set  free.  But  beyond  this,  there  was 
to  be  a  further  process  of  clearing  out.  When  each 
tribe  was  settled  in  its  lot,  it  was  to  address  itself,  in 
detail,  to  the  task  of  dispossessing  such  Canaanites  as 
yet  lingered  there.  It  might  not  be  expedient  that  all 
should  be  engaged  in  this  task  together,  for  this  would 
necessarily  interfere  with  the  ordinary  operations  of 
agriculture.  It  was  judged  better  that  it  should  be  done 
piecemeal,  and  therefore  God  was  asked  to  say  which 
of  the  tribes  ought  to  begin  it.  Judah  was  named,  and 
Judah  aided  by  Simeon  did  his  work  well,  and  set  a 
good  example  to  the  rest.  But  the  other  tribes  did 
not  act  with  Judah's  spirit,  and  therefore  they  did  not 
enjoy  his  reward.  The  testimony  of  the  historian  is, 
that  nothing  failed  of  any  good  thing  which  the  Lord 


xxi.  43-45]     NO  FAILURE  OF  GOD'S  PROMISE,  357 


had  spoken  unto  the  house  of  Israel.  The  Lord  faith- 
fully performed  every  part  of  His  obligation.  He  did 
not  add  Israel's  obligations  to  His  own,  and  discharge 
them  too,  when  they  were  remiss  concerning  them. 
The  ultimate  result  of  the  whole  business  was,  that 
trouble  befell  Israel,  inasmuch  as  he  neglected  his 
obligations,  while  the  Lord  faithfully  performed  every 
one  of  His.  Time  therefore  did  not  run  back  and  fetch 
the  age  of  gold.  Israel  did  not  enjoy  all  the  possessions 
that  had  been  allotted  to  him.  Canaanites  remained 
in  the  country  to  torment  him  like  thorns  in  his  sides. 
But  this  was  Israel's  fault,  not  God's.  Though  you 
were  to  give  a  lazy  farmer  the  finest  farm  in  the 
country,  you  could  not  make  him  prosperous  if  he 
neglected  his  fields  and  idled  away  the  time  that  should 
be  spent  in  continuous  labour.  You  cannot  keep  a 
man  in  health  if  he  breathes  unwholesome  air  or  drinks 
water  poisoned  with  putrid  matter.  No  more  could 
Israel  be  wholly  prosperous  if  he  allowed  Canaanites 
to  settle  quietly  at  his  side.  If  he  had  roused  himself, 
and  attacked  them  with  courage  and  in  faith,  God 
would  have  made  him  to  prevail.  But,  since  he  preferred 
ease  and  quiet  to  the  painfulness  of  duty,  God  left 
him  to  reap  as  he  had  sowed,  and  suffer  the  conse- 
quences of  his  neglect.  He  had  seldom  long  periods 
of  prosperity,  and  often  he  had  very  bitter  experiences 
of  calamity  and  distress. 

Certainly  God  had  furnished  His  people  with  the 
materials  for  a  happy  and  prosperous  life,  if  only  they 
had  used  them  aright.  There  was  first  the  element  of 
possessions.  They  had  comfortable  homes  and  all  the 
requisites  of  a  comfortable  life.  It  is  most  true  that 
'*  a  man's  life  consisteth  not  in  the  abundance  of  the 
things  which  he  possesseth."    But  moderate  possessions 


358  THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 


are  one  element,  though  not  the  chief  or  most  essential 
of  human  prosperit}^  Possessions,  however  rich  or 
manifold,  in  connection  with  a  discontented  temper,  an 
ungodly  spirit,  or  a  selfish  nature,  can  bring  no  genuine 
pleasure.  In  addition  to  possessions,  the  Lord  had 
given  Israel  rest.  Their  enemies  were  not  disposed 
to  attack  them  even  when  dwelling  by  their  side. 
True  it  is  that  the  rest  into  which  Joshua  brought  them 
was  not  the  true,  the  ultimate  rest.  If  Joshua  had 
given  them  that  rest,  the  Holy  Spirit  would  not  have 
spoken  of  a  rest  that  was  still  to  come  (Heb.  iv.  8). 
But  external  rest,  like  external  possessions  though  not 
all,  was  one  contribution  towards  prosperity.  Moreover, 
none  of  their  enemies  had  been  able  to  stand  before 
them ;  in  every  encounter  that  had  yet  taken  place 
the  Lord  had  delivered  them  into  their  hand. 

This  was  a  blessed  presage  for  the  future.  Whatever 
encounters  might  yet  remain,  they  might  count  on  the 
same  result,  if  they  lifted  up  their  eyes  to  God.  Their 
life  in  the  future  would  not  be  without  toil,  without 
anxiety,  without  danger.  But  if  they  looked  to  Him 
and  made  the  requisite  efforts,  God  was  ready  to  bless 
their  toil.  He  was  able  to  overcome  their  anxieties.  He 
was  sure  as  in  the  past  to  subdue  their  enemies.  The 
gifts  that  God  had  conferred  on  them,  and  the  materials 
of  enjoyment  with  which  He  had  surrounded  them, 
were  not  designed  to  make  them  independent,  as  if 
they  could  now  do  everything  for  themselves.  God's 
purpose  was  the  very  reverse.  He  wished  to  keep  up 
the  sense  of  dependence  on  Him,  and  to  encourage  at 
every  turn  the  habit  that  seeks  unto  God,  and  goes 
to  Him  for  help. 

For  this,  after  all,  is  the  great  lesson  for  all  human 
beings.     The  great   thing  for  us  all  is   to   keep  up  a 


Jcxi.  43-45-]     NO  FAILURE  OF  GOD'S  PROMISE.  359 


living  connection  with  God,  so  that  our  whole  nature 
shall  be  replenished  out  of  His  fulness,  and  purified 
and  elevated  by  His  Divine  influence.  Whatever  draws 
us  to  God  draws  us  to  the  fountain  of  all  that  is  best 
and  purest  and  noblest.  God  would  have  conferred 
but  a  poor  blessing  on  Israel  if  He  had  just  settled 
them  in  the  land,  and  then  left  them  to  themselves, 
without  any  occasion  or  inducement  to  fellowship  with 
Him.  The  inducements  to  resort  to  Him  which  they 
were  to  be  continually  under  were  by  far  the  most 
va.luable  part  of  what  God  now  conferred  upon  them. 
The  certainty  that  all  would  go  wrong,  that  their 
possessions  would  be  invaded  and  their  rest  disturbed, 
and  that  their  enemies  would  prove  victorious  unless 
they  sought  continually  to  their  God,  fostered  the  most 
precious  of  all  habits — that  drawing  near  to  God  which 
brings  with  it  all  spiritual  blessing. 

"Nearer,  my  God,  to  Thee, 

Nearer  to  Thee  ! 
E'en  though  it  be  a  cross 

That  raiseth  me. 
Still  all  my  song  would  be 
Nearer,  my  God,  to  Thee, 

Nearer  to  Thee !  " 

There  is  no  small  amount  of  instruction  to  be  drawn 
by  all  of  us  from  this  record  of  Israel's  experience. 

First,  it  is  of  supreme  importance  for  us  all  to  have 
ouF  hearts  firmly  established  in  the  conviction  of  the 
faithfulness  of  God.  It  should  be  our  habit  to  regard 
this  as  an  attribute  on  which  we  not  only  may,  but 
must  rely.  To  ascribe  to  God  any  laxity  as  to  His 
word  or  promises  were  to  cast  a  fearful  imputation  on 
His  holy  nature.  ''  Heaven  and  earth  shall  pass  away, 
but  My  word  shall  not  pass  away."     ''  He  is  not  a  man 


o 


60  THE  BOOK   OF  JOSHUA. 


that  he  should  He,  or  the  son  of  man  that  he  should 
repent."  Nothing  can  be  conceived  that  could  make 
it  better  to  God  to  break  His  word  than  to  keep  it. 
This  is  the  root  of  all  religion  ;  it  is  the  basis  of  faith, 
the  true  ground  of  trust.  To  train  our  minds  to 
habitual  reliance  on  all  that  God  has  said,  is  one  of  the 
most  vital  and  blessed  exercises  of  spiritual  religion.  It 
is  alike  honouring  to  God  and  beneficial  to  ourselves. 
To  search  out  from  the  body  of  Scripture  the  promises 
of  God ;  to  fasten  our  attention  on  them  one  by  one  ; 
and  to  exercise  our  minds  on  the  thought  that  in 
Christ  Jesus  they  are  yea,  and  in  Him  Amen,  is  a 
most  blessed  help  to  spiritual  stability  and  spiritual 
growth.  And  in  our  prayers  there  is  nothing  more 
fitted  to  give  us  confidence  than  to  plead  in  this  spirit 
the  promises  that  God  has  made.  No  plea  is  more 
powerful  than  the  Psalmist's — "  Remember  Thy  word 
unto  Thy  servant,  upon  which  Thou  hast  caused  me  to 
hope."  How  many  sadly  perplexed  men  have  found 
rest  from  the  words  :  *'  Commit  thy  way  unto  the  Lord  ; 
trust  also  in  Him,  and  He  shall  bring  it  to  pass." 
*'  Faithful  is  He  that  calleth  you,  who  also  will  do  it." 

But  secondly,  we  may  learn  from  this  passage  that, 
wherever  the  promises  of  God  seem  to  fail,  the  fault  is 
not  His,  but  ours.  On  the  one  hand,  we  are  taught 
clearly  that  delay  is  not  failure,  and  on  the  other  that 
where  there  does  seem  to  be  failure  there  is  none 
really  on  the  part  of  God.  At  least  five-and-twenty 
long  years  elapsed  between  God's  first  promise  to 
Abraham  and  the  birth  of  Isaac.  Four  hundred  years 
were  to  be  spent  by  the  chosen  seed  in  bondage  in 
Egypt.  And  even  after  the  deliverance  from  Egypt 
there  came  the  sojourn  in  the  wilderness  of  other  forty 
years.     Yet  God  was  faithful  all  the  time.     How  often 


xxi.  43-45-]     NO  FAILURE  OF  GOD'S  PROMISE.  361 


we  need  to  recall  the  text,  that  one  day  is  with  the  Lord 
as  a  thousand  years,  and  a  thousand  years  as  one  day  ! 
*'  Though  the  vision  tarry,"  do  not  give  it  up  in  despair, 
but  ''  wait  for  it  "  (Hab.  ii.  3). 

Perhaps  it  is  in  the  matter  of  answers  to  prayer  that 
we  are  most  liable  to  the  temptation  that  God  forgets 
His   promises.     Have  we    not    the    most  explicit  and 
abundant    promises    that    prayer    will    be    answered  ? 
Yet  how  many  have  prayed,  and  seemingly  prayed  in 
vain  !     Nay,  does  not   the   very  opposite   of  what  we 
pray  for   often  come  ?     We  entreat   God    to   spare    a 
beloved  life  ;  that  life  is  taken    awa}^     We   pray  for 
victory   over    temptation ;    the    temptation    seems    to 
acquire  a   redoubled  force.     We    pray    for  success    in 
business  ;  the  clouds  seem  to  thicken  the  more.     We 
ask,    '*  Has    God    forgotten    to    be   gracious  ?     Is   His 
mercy  clean  gone   for  ever  ?     Does   His   promise  fail 
for  evermore  ?  "     Nay,  let  us  rally  our  faith.     *'  Then  I 
said,  This  is  my  infirmity :  but  I  will  remember  the  years 
of  the  right  hand  of  the  Most  High "  (Psalm  Ixxvii. 
10).     If  my  prayer  was  not  answered,  it  was  not  God's 
fault.    It  may  be  that,  like  Israel,  I  failed  in  my  part.      I 
may  have  been  laying  the  whole  burden  on  God,  and 
omitting  something  that  it  fell  to  me  to  do.     I  may  have 
been  asking  for  something  that  would  not  have  been 
for  my  good  or   for  God's  glory.     I   may  have   failed 
in  that  spirit  of  affectionate  trust  which  is  a  requisite 
of  acceptable  prayer.    Let  us  remember  that  God  knows 
what  things  we  have  need  of  before  we  ask  Him.     And 
God  is  infinitely  kind  and  willing  to  bless  us.     What 
He  longs  for  on  our  part  is  the  spirit   of  filial  trust. 
What  He  values  prayer  for  is  that  it  is  the  channel  of 
this  spirit.     We   can    never    say   that  God  disregards 
prayer  unless  we  can  say  that  we  approached  Him,  and 


362  THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 


spoke  to  Him  like  confiding  children  dealing  with  a 
loving  father,  and  He  cast  us  off.  But  how  often  do  we 
go  to  the  footstool  half  hoping,  half  doubting,  instead  of 
going  in  the  full  conviction, — **  Our  gracious  Father  is 
sure  to  hear  us ;  and  if  He  do  not  give  us  the  precise 
thing  we  ask.  He  is  sure  to  give  us  something  better." 
Let  prayer  ever  be  the  outcome  of  a  profound  belief  in 
the  infinite  love  of  God,  and  His  constant  readiness  to 
bless  us  in  Christ;  let  it  be  the  communing  of  a  child 
with  his  father;  and  let  it  never  be  darkened  by  a  shade 
of  suspicion  that  the  Hearer  of  prayer  will  not  be  faith- 
ful to  His  word. 

It  is  the  happy  experience  both  of  individuals  and 
the  Church  to  have  occasional  periods  of  fulfilment — it 
may  be  after  long  periods  of  expectation  and  trial.  The 
patriarch  Job  had  a  terrible  time  of  trial,  when  God 
seemed  so  untrue  to  His  promises  that  he  was  some- 
times on  the  very  edge  of  blaspheming  His  name.  But 
a  time  of  fulfilment  came  at  last,  and  through  all  the 
mystery  of  the  past  Job  at  length  saw  '*  the  end  of  the 
Lord,  that  the  Lord  is  very  pitiful  and  of  tender  mercy '' 
(James  v.  11).  The  aged  Simeon  and  the  aged  Anna  in 
the  temple  had  waited  long,  but  the  hour  came  at  last 
when  all  that  they  had  been  looking  for  was  accom- 
plished, and  with  a  feeling  of  perfect  satisfaction  they 
could  sing  their  '*  Nunc  dimittis."  The  souls  under  the 
altar  of  them  that  were  slain  for  the  word  of  God  and 
for  the  testimony  which  they  held,  when  they  groaned 
out  their  sad  '^  How  long  ? "  had  still  to  wait  a  little 
season  ;  but  the  time  came  when,  clothed  in  white  robes 
and  with  palms  in  their  hands,  they  attained  complete 
satisfaction,  crying  Vv^ith  a  loud  voice,  '*  Salvation  to  our 
God  that  sitteth  on  the  throne,  and  to  the  Lamb  "  (Rev. 
vi.  10,  vii.  10).     And  in  more  recent  times  there  have 


xxi.  43-45-]     NO  FAILURE  OF  GOD'S  PROMISE.  363 

been  eras  of  fulfilment  and  corresponding  rejoicing. 
When  St.  Augustine,  after  year  upon  year  of  restless 
tossing,  at  length  found  pardon  and  peace  in  Christ ; 
when  Columbus,  after  perils  and  privations  innumerable, 
at  length  saw  the  dim  coast  which  he  had  often  prayed 
to  behold ;  when  Wilberforce  heard  the  slave  trade 
declared  an  illegal  traffic,  and  Fowell  Buxton  saw  the 
last  fetter  struck  from  the  slave  in  the  dominions  of 
Great  Britain ;  when  Lord  Shaftesbury  found  the  ten 
hours  factory  bill  turned  into  law ;  or  when  the  friends 
of  the  slave  learned  that  the  President  of  the  United 
States  had  signed  the  proclamation  which  set  four 
millions  at  liberty — the  old  experience  of  Joshua's  days 
seemed  to  be  repeated,  and  gratitude  to  Him  who  had 
failed  in  no  good  thing  was  the  one  feeling  that  filled 
the  heart.  Sometimes  the  death-bed  affords  a  retrospect 
that  kindles  the  same  emotion.  The  dying  man  looks 
along  the  way  by  which  he  has  been  led,  and,  with  the 
walls  of  the  New  Jerusalem  gleaming  before  him,  he 
owns  that  he  has  been  conducted  by  the  right  way  to 
the  city  of  habitation.  The  objects  of  earth  and  heaven 
are  seen  by  him  in  a  truer  light.  Valuations  are  made 
more  accurately  on  the  margin  of  eternity.  The  things 
that  have  been  shaken  and  that  have  perished — of  how 
little  value  are  they  seen  to  be,  compared  to  the  things 
that  cannot  be  shaken  I  The  loving  purpose  of  Divine 
providence  in  shattering  so  many  hopes,  in  defeating 
so  many  projects,  in  inflicting  so  much  pain,  is  clearly 
apprehended.  The  heart  is  grieved  that  it  was  so  near 
charging  God  foolishly  when  His  purpose  was  really  so 
merciful  and  so  kind.  The  bright  era  of  fulfilment  is 
at  hand ;  and  even  already,  while  the  day  is  only  dawn- 
ing, the  soul  can  give  forth  its  testimony  that  **  no  good 
thing  has  failed  of  all  that  the  Lord  hath  spoken." 


364  THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 

And  then  at  last  will  come  the  end  of  the  mystery. 
The  Lord  shall  send  His  angels  with  a  great  sound  of 
a  trumpet,  and  they  shall  gather  together  His  elect 
from  the  four  winds,  from  the  one  end  of  heaven  to  the 
other.  On  the  sea  of  glass  mingled  with  fire  they  take 
their  stand,  having  the  harps  of  God,  and  sing  the  song 
of  Moses,  the  servant  of  God,  and  the  song  of  the 
Lamb:  "Great  and  marvellous  are  Thy  works.  Lord 
God  Almighty ;  just  and  true  are  Thy  ways,  Thou 
King  of  saints."  What  a  scene  and  what  a  sensation  ! 
What  joy  in  entering  on  possession  of  the  Promised 
Land,  in  experiencing  the  rest  of  the  redeemed,  andfin 
the  consciousness  that  not  a  single  enemy  survives  to 
annoy  !  What  delight  in  the  harmonious  working  of 
the  new  nature,  in  the  free  and  happy  play  of  all  its 
faculties  and  feelings,  and  in  the  conscious  presence 
of  a  God  and  Saviour  to  whose  image  you  have  been 
thoroughly  conformed  !  The  last  shadow  that  dimmed 
your  vision  on  earth  shall  have  fled  away  ;  the  last 
vestige  of  complaint  of  your  earthly  lot  shall  have 
vanished.  Whatever  you  may  have  thought  once,  no 
other  feeling  will  now  occupy  your  heart  but  gratitude 
to  Him  who  has  not  only  not  failed  to  fulfil  all  His 
promises,  but  has  done  in  you  exceeding  abundantly 
above  all  that  ye  could  ask  or  think  I 


CHAPTER    XXX. 

THE  ALTAR  ED. 
Joshua  xxii. 

THE  two  tribes  and  a  half  had  behaved  well. 
The}^  had  kept  their  word,  remained  with  their 
brethren  during  all  Joshua's  campaign,  and  taken  their 
part  in  all  the  perils  and  struggles  through  which  the 
host  had  passed.  And  now  they  receive  the  merited 
reward  of  honourable  conduct.  They  are  complimented 
by  their  general ;  their  services  are  rehearsed  with 
approval ;  their  threefold  fidelity,  to  God,  to  Moses, 
and  to  Joshua,  is  commended  ;  they  are  dismissed  with 
honour,  and  they  receive  as  their  reward  a  substantial 
share  of  the  spoil  which  had  been  taken  from  the 
enemy.  "Return,"  said  Joshua,  "with  much  riches 
unto  your  tents,  and  with  very  much  cattle,  with  silver 
and  with  gold,  and  with  brass,  and  with  iron,  and  with 
very  much  raiment ;  divide  the  spoil  of  your  enemies 
with  your  brethren."  It  thus  appeared  that  honour, 
like  honesty,  is  the  best  policy.  Had  these  two  tribes 
and  a  half  chosen  the  alternative  of  selfishness,  refused 
to  cross  the  Jordan  to  help  their  brethren,  and  devoted 
their  whole  energies  at  once  to  their  fields  and  flocks, 
they  would  have  fared  worse  in  the  end.  No  doubt  as 
they  recrossed  the  Jordan,  bearing  with  them  the 
treasure  which  had  been  acquired  on  the  western  side, 
their  hearts  would  be  full  of  that  happy  feeling  which 

365 


3 


66  THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 


results  from  duty  faithfully  performed,  and  honourable 
conduct  amply  rewarded.  They  brought  back  '*  peace 
with  honour/'  and  prosperity  to  the  bargain.  After 
all,  it  is  high  principle  that  pays.  It  demands  a  time 
of  patient  working  and  of  patient  waiting,  but  its  bills 
are  fully  implemented  in  the  end. 

In  sending  away  the  two  tribes  and  a  half  Joshua 
pressed  two  counsels  on  them.  One  was  that  they 
were  to  divide  the  spoil  with  those  of  their  brethren 
that  had  remained  at  home.  Here,  again,  selfishness 
might  possibly  have  found  a  footing.  Why  should  the 
men  that  had  incurred  none  of  the  labour  and  the  peril 
enjoy  any  of  the  spoil  ?  Would  it  not  have  been  fair 
that  those  who  had  borne  the  burden  and  heat  of  the 
day  should  alone  enjoy  its  rewards  ?  But,  in  point  of 
fact,  there  had  been  good  reason  why  a  portion  should 
remain  at  home.  To  leave  the  women  and  children 
wholly  undefended  would  have  been  recklessness 
itself  Some  arrangement,  too,  had  to  be  made  for 
looking  after  the  flocks  and  herds.  And  as  the  supply 
of  manna  had  ceased,  the  production  of  food  had  to  be 
provided  for.  The  men  at  home  had  been  doing  the 
duty  assigned  to  them  as  well  as  the  men  abroad.  If 
they  could  not  establish  a  claim  in  justice  to  a  share 
of  the  spoil,  the  spirit  of  brotherhood  and  generosity 
pleaded  on  their  behalf  The  soldier-section  of  the 
two  and  a  half  tribes  had  done  their  part  honourably 
and  generously  to  the  nine  and  a  half;  let  them  act  in 
the  same  spirit  to  their  own  brethren.  Let  them  share 
in  the  good  things  which  they  had  brought  home,  so 
that  a  spirit  of  joy  and  satisfaction  might  be  diffused 
throughout  the  community,  and  the  welcome  given  to 
those  who  had  been  absent  might  be  cordial  and 
complete,  without  one  trace  of  discontent  or  envy. 


xxii.]  THE  ALTAR  ED.  367 

Occasions  may  occur  still  on  which  this  counsel  of 
Joshua  may  come  in  very  suitably.  It  does  not  always 
happen  that  brothers  or  near  relatives  who  have 
prospered  abroad  are  very  mindful  of  those  whom  they 
have  left  at  home.  They  like  to  enjoy  their  abundance, 
and  if  the  case  of  their  poor  relations  comes  across 
their  minds,  they  dismiss  it  with  the  thought  that  men's 
lots  must  differ,  and  that  they  are  not  going  to  lose  all 
the  benefit  of  their  success  by  supporting  other  families 
besides  their  own.  Yet,  how  much  good  might  accrue 
from  a  little  generosity,  though  it  were  but  an  occasional 
gift,  towards  those  who  are  straitened  ?  And  how 
much  better  it  would  be  to  kindle  by  this  means  a 
thankful  and  kindly  feeling,  than  to  have  envy  and 
jealousy  rankling  in  their  hearts  ! 

The  other  counsel  of  Joshua  bore  upon  that  which 
was  ever  uppermost  in  his  heart — loyalty  to  God. 
''  Take  diligent  heed  to  do  the  commandment  and  the 
law,  which  Moses  the  servant  of  the  Lord  charged  you, 
to  love  the  Lord  your  God,  and  to  walk  in  all  His  ways, 
and  to  keep  all  His  commandments,  and  to  cleave  unto 
Him,  and  to  serve  Him  with  all  your  heart  and  with 
all  your  soul."  It  is  evident  that  Joshua  poured  his 
whole  heart  into  this  counsel.  He  was  evidently 
anxious  as  to  the  effect  which  their  separation  from 
their  brethren  would  have  on  their  religious  condition. 
It  was  west  of  the  Jordan  that  the  sanctuary  had  been 
placed,  and  that  the  great  central  influence  in  support  of 
the  national  worship  would  mainly  operate.  Would  not 
these  eastern  tribes  be  in  great  danger  of  drifting  away 
from  the  recognised  worship  of  God,  and  becoming 
idolaters  ?  Joshua  knew  well  that  as  yet  the  nation 
was  far  from  being  weaned  from  idolatry  (see  xxiv.  14). 
He  knew   that   among  many    there   were  strong   pro- 


J 


68  THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 


pensities  towards  it.  He  had  something  of  the  feehng 
that  an  earnest  Christian  parent  would  have  in  sending 
off  a  son,  not  very  decided  in  religion,  to  some  colony 
where  the  public  sentiment  was  loose,  and  where  the 
temptations  to  worldliness  and  religious  indifference 
were  strong.  He  was  therefore  all  the  more  earnest 
in  his  exhortations  to  them,  for  he  felt  that  all  their 
prosperity,  all  their  happiness,  their  very  life  itself, 
depended  on  their  being  faithful  to  their  God. 

We  cannot  tell  how  long  time  had  elapsed  when 
word  was  brought  to  the  western  side  that  the  two 
and  a  half  tribes  had  built  a  great  altar  on  the  edge  of 
Jordan,  apparently  as  a  rival  to  the  ecclesiastical  estab- 
lishment at  Shiloh.  That  this  was  their  intention  seems 
to  have  been  taken  for  granted,  for  we  find  the  con- 
gregation or  general  assembly  of  Israel  assembled  at 
Shiloh  to  prepare  for  war  with  the  schismatical  tribes. 
War  had  evidently  become  a  famihar  idea  with  them, 
and  at  first  no  other  course  suggested  itself  for  arrest- 
ing the  proposal.  It  was  one  of  the  many  occasions 
of  unreasoning  impetuosity  which  the  history  of  Israel 
presents. 

No  mention  is  made  of  Joshua  in  the  narrative  of 
this  transaction  ;  he  had  retired  from  active  life,  and 
perhaps  what  is  here  recorded  did  not  take  place  for 
a  considerable  time  after  the  return  of  the  two  and  a 
half  tribes.  It  may  be  that  we  have  here  an  instance 
of  the  method  so  often  pursued  in  Hebrew  annals,  of 
recording  together  certain  incidents  pertaining  to  the 
same  transaction,  or  to  the  same  people,  though  these 
incidents  were  separated  from  each  other  by  a  consider- 
able interval  of  time. 

It  was  well  that  the  congregation  assembled  at  Shiloh. 
They  would  be  reminded  by  the  very  place  that  great 


xxu.]  THE  ALTAR  ED.  369 

national  movements  were  not  to  be  undertaken  rashly, 
since  God  was  the  supreme  ruler  of  the  nation.  We 
are  not  told  whether  the  usual  method  of  asking  counsel 
of  God  was  resorted  to,  but  certainly  the  course 
followed  was  more  reasonable  than  rushing  into  war. 
It  was  resolved  to  begin  by  remonstrating  with  the  two 
and  a  half  tribes.  The  idea  that  their  proposal  was 
schismatical,  nay,  even  idolatrous,  was  not  given  up, 
but  it  was  thought  that  if  a  solemn  remonstrance 
and  warning  were  addressed  to  them,  they  might  be 
induced  to  abandon  their  project. 

A  deputation  was  sent  over,  consisting  of  Phinehas, 
the  son  of  Eleazar  the  priest,  as  representing  the 
religious  interest,  and  ten  princes,  representing  the 
ten  tribes,  to  have  an  interview  with  the  heads  of  the 
two  and  a  half  tribes.  When  they  met,  the  deputation 
opened  very  fiercely  on  their  brethren.  They  charged 
them  with  unheard-of  wickedness.  What  they  had 
done  was  a  daring  act  of  rebellion.  It  was  worthy  to 
be  classed  with  the  iniquity  of  Peor — one  of  the  vilest 
deeds  that  ever  disgraced  the  nation.  It  was  fitted  to 
bring  down  God's  judgments  on  the  whole  nation,  and 
would  certainly  do  so.  If  the  secret  act  of  Achan 
involved  the  congregation  in  wrath,  what  calamity  to 
the  whole  people  would  not  result  from  this  daring  and 
open  deed  of  rebellion  ?  They  were  not  safe  for  a 
single  day.  The  vials  of  the  Divine  wrath  could  not 
but  be  ready,  and  in  twenty-four  hours  the  whole  con- 
gregation of  Israel  might  be  overwhelmed  by  the  tokens 
of  His  displeasure. 

One  should  have  said  that  if  anything  was  fitted  to 
have  a  bad  effect  on  the  two  and  a  half  tribes,  it  was 
this  mode  of  deaUng.  It  is  not  wise  to  assume  that 
your  brother  is  a  villain.     And  scolding,  as  has  been 

24 


370  THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 

well  said,  does  not  make  men  sorry  for  their  sins.  But 
one  thing  was  said  by  the  deputation  that  was  fitted  to 
have  a  different  effect.  '^  Notwithstanding,  if  the  land 
of  your  possession  be  unclean,  then  pass  ye  over  unto 
the  land  of  the  possession  of  the  Lord,  wherein  the 
Lord's  tabernacle  dwelleth,  and  take  possession  among 
us  :  but  rebel  not  against  the  Lord,  nor  rebel  against 
us,  in  building  you  an  altar  beside  the  altar  of  the  Lord 
our  God." 

Here  was  a  generous,  a  self-denying  proposal ;  the 
ten  tribes  were  some  of  them  in  straits  themselves, 
finding  the  room  available  for  them  far  too  narrow ; 
nevertheless  they  were  prepared  to  divide  what  they 
had  with  their  brethren,  if  their  real  feeling  was  that 
the  east  side  of  the  Jordan  was  outside  the  hallowed 
and  hallowing  influence  of  the  presence  of  the  Lord. 

Instead,  therefore,  of  firing  up  at  the  fierce  reproof  of 
their  brethren,  the  two  and  a  half  tribes  were  softened 
by  this  really  kind  proposal  and  returned  a  reassuring 
answer.  They  solemnly  repudiated  all  idea  of  a  rival 
establishment.  They  knew  that  there  was  but  one 
place  where  the  tabernacle  and  the  ark  of  the  covenant 
could  be,  and  they  had  not  the  remotest  intention  of 
interfering  with  the  spot  that  had  been  chosen  for  that 
purpose.  They  had  never  entertained  the  thought  of 
offering  burnt  offerings,  or  meat  offerings,  or  peace 
offerings  on  their  altar.  They  solemnly  abjured  all 
intention  to  show  disrespect  to  the  Lord,  or  to  His 
law.  The  altar  which  they  had  built  had  a  very 
different  purpose.  It  was  occasioned  by  the  physical 
structure  of  the  country,  and  the  effect  which  that 
might  have  on  their  children  in  years  to  come.  ^*  In 
time  to  come  your  children  might  speak  unto  our 
children,  saying.  What  have  ye  to  do  with  the  Lord 


xxii.]  THE  ALTAR  ED.  371 

God  of  Israel  ?  For  the  Lord  hath  made  Jordan 
a  border  between  us  and  you,  ye  children  of  Reuben 
and  children  of  Gad  ;  ye  have  no  part  in  the  Lord  :  so 
shall  youf  children  make  our  children  cease  from  fearing 
the  Lord.  Therefore  we  said,  Let  us  now^  prepare  to 
build  us  an  altar,  not  for  burnt  offering,  nor  for  sacri- 
fice ;  but  that  it  may  be  a  witness  between  us,  and  you, 
and  our  generations  after  us."  It  was  not  a  rival,  but 
a  witness,  a  pattern  ;  a  reminder  to  the  two  and  a  half 
tribes  that  the  true  altar,  the  Divine  sanctuary,  hallowed 
by  the  token  of  God's  presence  was  elsewhere,  and  that 
there,  and  only  there,  were  the  public  sacrifices  to  be 
offered. 

The  acquaintance  with  the  physical  structure  of 
Palestine  which  we  have  obtained  in  recent  years 
enables  us  to  appreciate  the  feeling  of  the  two  and  a 
half  tribes  better  than  could  have  been  done  before. 
The  mere  fact  that  a  river  separated  the  east  from 
the  west  of  Palestine  would  not  have  been  enough  to 
account  for  the  sense  of  isolation  and  the  fear  thence 
arising  which  had  taken  hold  of  the  heads  of  the  two 
and  a  half  tribes.  It  is  the  peculiar  structure  of  the 
valley  in  which  the  river  runs  that  explains  the  story. 
The  Jordan  valley,  as  has  already  been  mentioned, 
is  depressed  below  the  level  of  the  Mediterranean  Sea, 
the  depression  increasing  graduall}^  as  the  river  flows 
towards  the  Dead  Sea,  where  it  amounts  to  1300  feet. 
In  addition  to  this,  the  mountainous  plateau  on  each 
side  of  the  Jordan  valley  rises  to  the  height  of  2000  or 
2500  feet  above  the  sea,  so  that  the  entire  depression, 
counting  from  the  top  of  the  plateau  to  the  edge  of  the 
river,  is  between  three  and  four  thousand  feet.  On 
each  side  the  approach  to  the  Jordan  is  difficult,  while, 
during  the  warm  season,  the  great  heat  increases  the 


372  THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA, 

fatigue  of  travelling  and  discourages  the  attempt.  All 
these  things  make  the  separation  between  the  two  parts 
of  the  country  caused  by  the  river  and  its  valley  much 
more  complete  than  in  ordinary  cases  of  river  boun- 
daries. There  can  be  no  doubt  now  that  the  heads  of 
the  two  and  a  half  tribes  had  considerable  ground  for 
their  apprehensions.  There  was  some  risk  that  they 
should  cease  to  be  regarded  as  part  of  the  nation ; 
and  their  explanation  of  the  altar  seems  to  have  been 
an  honest  one.  It  was  designed  simply  as  a  memorial, 
not  for  sacrifices.  We  see  what  a  happy  thing  it  was 
for  the  whole  nation  that  the  deputation  was  sent  across 
before  resorting  to  arms.  A  new  light  was  thrown  on 
what  had  seemed  a  daring  sin  ;  it  was  but  an  innocent 
arrangement ;  and  the  terrible  forebodings  which  it 
awakened  are  at  once  scattered  to  the  winds. 

But  who  can  estimate  all  the  misery  that  has  come 
in  almost  every  age,  in  circles  both  public  and  private, 
from  hast}^  suspicions  of  evil,  which  a  little  patience, 
a  little  inquiry,  a  little  opportunity  of  explanation,  might 
have  at  once  averted  ?  History,  tradition,  fiction,  alike 
furnish  us  with  instances.  We  recall  the  story  of 
Llewellyn  and  his  dog  Gelert,  stabbed  by  his  master, 
who  thought  the  stains  upon  his  mouth  were  the  blood 
of  his  beloved  child  ;  while,  on  raising  the  cradle  which 
had  been  turned  over,  he  found  his  child  asleep  and 
well,  and  a  huge  wolf  dead,  from  whose  fangs  the 
dog  had  delivered  him.  We  remember  the  tragedy  of 
Othello  and  Desdemona ;  we  see  how  the  fondest  love 
may  be  poisoned  by  hasty  suspicion,  and  the  dearest 
of  wives  murdered,  when  a  little  patience  would  have 
shown  her  innocent — shown  her  all  too  pure  to  come 
in  contact  with  even  a  vestige  of  the  evil  thing.  We 
think    of  the    many    stories   of  crusaders   and    others 


xxii.]  THE  ALTAR  ED.  373 

leaving  their  homes  with  their  love  pledged  to  another, 
detained  in  distant  lands  without  means  of  communi- 
cation, hearing  a  rumour  that  their  beloved  one  had 
turned  false,  and  doing  some  rash  and  irrevocable 
deed,  while  a  little  further  waiting  would  have  realized 
all  their  hopes.  But  perhaps  it  is  in  less  tragic 
circumstances  that  the  spirit  of  suspicion  and  unjiist 
accusation  is  most  commonly  manifested.  A  rumour 
unfavourable  to  your  character  gets  into  circulation  ; 
you  suspect  some  one  of  being  the  author,  and  deal 
fiercely  with  him  accordingh' ;  it  turns  out  that  he  is 
wholly  innocent.  A  friend  has  apparently  written  a 
letter  against  you  which  has  made  you  furious ;  you 
pour  a  torrent  of  reproaches  upon  him ;  it  turns  out 
that  the  letter  was  written  by  some  one  else  with  a 
similar  name.  But  indeed  there  is  no  end  to  the 
mischief  that  is  bred  by  impatience,  and  by  want  of 
inquiry,  or  of  waiting  for  explanations  that  would  put  a 
quite  different  complexion  on  our  matters  of  complaint. 
True  charity  ''thinketh  no  evil,"  for  it  "rejoiceth  not  in 
iniquity,  but  rejoiceth  in  truth.  It  beareth  all  things, 
believeth  all  things,  hopeth  all  things,  endureth  all 
things."  If  its  gentle  voice  were  more  regarded,  what 
a  multitude  of  offences  would  vanish,  and  how  much 
wider  would  be  the  reign  of  peace  I 

The  explanation  that  had  been  offered  by  Reuben, 
Gad,  and  Manasseh  proved  satisfactory  to  Phinehas  and 
the  princes  of  the  congregation,  and  likewise  to  the 
people  of  the  west  generally,  when  the  deputation 
reported  their  proceedings.  The  remark  of  Phinehas 
before  he  left  his  eastern  brethren  was  a  striking  one  : 
"  This  day  do  we  perceive  that  the  Lord  is  among  us, 
because  ye  have  not  committed  this  trespass  against 
the  Lord  ;  now  ye  have  delivered  the  children  of  Israel 


374  THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 

out  of  the  hand  of  the  Lord."  There  was  a  great 
difference  between  the  Lord  being  among  them,  and 
their  being  in  the  hand  of  the  Lord.  If  the  Lord 
were  among  them  they  were  under  all  manner  of 
gracious  influence ;  if  they  were  in  the  hand  of  the 
Lord  they  were  exposed  to  the  utmost  visitations  of 
His  wrath.  It  was  the  joy  of  Phinehas  to  find  not  only 
that  no  provocation  had  been  given  to  God's  righteous 
jealousy^  but  that  proof  had  been  afforded  that  He  was 
graciously  blessing  them.  If  God  often  departs  from  us 
without  our  suspecting  it,  He  is  sometimes  graciously 
present  with  us  when  we  have  been  fearing  that  He  was 
gone.  So  it  was  now.  Phinehas  in  imagination  had 
seen  the  gathering  of  a  terrible  storm,  as  if  the  very 
enemy  of  man  had  been  stirring  up  his  countrymen  to 
rebellion  and  contempt  of  God  ;  but  in  place  of  that, 
he  sees  that  they  have  been  consulting  for  God's 
honour,  for  the  permanence  of  His  institutions,  and  for 
the  preservation  of  unity  between  the  two  sections  of 
the  nation  ;  and  in  this  he  finds  a  proof  that  God  has 
been  graciously  working  among  them.  For  God  is  the 
God  of  peace,  not  of  strife,  and  the  Spirit  is  the  Spirit 
of  order,  and  not  of  confusion.  And  when  two  sections 
of  a  community  are  led  to  desire  the  advancement  of 
His  service  and  the  honour  of  His  name,  even  by 
methods  which  are  not  in  all  respects  alike,  it  is  a  proof 
that  He  is  among  them,  drawing  their  hearts  to  Himself 
and  to  one  another. 

Perhaps  the  common  adage  might  have  been  applied 
to  the  case — that  there  were  faults  on  both  sides.  If 
the  ten  tribes  were  too  hasty  in  preparing  for  war, 
the  two  and  a  half  tribes  had  been  too  hasty  in  deciding 
on  the  erection  of  their  altar,  without  communication 
with  the  priests  and  the  civil  heads  of  the  nation.     In 


xxii.]  THE  ALTAR  ED.  375 

a  matter  so  sacred,  no  such  step  should  have  been 
taken  without  full  consultation  and  a  clear  view  of  duty. 
The  goodness  of  their  motive  did  not  excuse  them  for 
not  taking  all  available  methods  to  carry  out  their  plan 
in  a  way  wholly  unexceptional.  As  it  was,  they  ran 
a  great  risk  of  kindling  a  fire  which  might  have  at  once 
destroyed  themselves  and  weakened  the  rest  of  the 
nation  through  all  time.  In  their  effort  to  promote 
unity,  they  had  almost  occasioned  a  fatal  schism.  Thus 
both  sections  of  the  nation  had  been  on  the  edge  of 
a  fearful   catastrophe. 

But  now  it  appeared  that  the  section  that  had  seemed 
to  be  so  highly  offending  were  animated  by  a  quite 
loyal  sentiment.  Phinehas  gladly  seized  on  the  fact 
as  a  proof  that  God  was  among  them.  A  less  godly 
man  would  not  have  thought  of  this  as  of  much  import- 
ance. He  would  hardly  have  believed  in  it  as  anything 
that  could  exist  except  in  a  fanatical  imagination.  But 
the  more  one  knows  of  God  the  more  real  does  the 
privilege  seem,  and  the  more  blessed.  Nay,  it  comes 
to  be  felt  as  that  which  makes  the  greatest  conceivable 
difference  between  one  individual  or  one  community 
and  another.  The  great  curse  of  sin  is  that  it  has 
severed  us  from  God.  The  glory  of  the  grace  of  God 
in  Christ  is  that  we  are  brought  together.  Man  without 
God  is  like  the  earth  without  the  sun,  or  the  body 
without  the  soul.  Man  in  fellowship  with  God  is  man 
replenished  with  all  Divine  blessings  and  holy  influences. 
A  church  in  which  God  does  not  dwell  is  a  hold  of 
unclean  spirits  and  a  cage  of  every  unclean  and  hateful 
bird.  A  church  inhabited  by  God,  like  the  bride  in 
the  Song  of  Solomon,  'Mooketh  forth  as  the  morning, 
fair  as  the  moon,  clear  as  the  sun,  and  terrible  as  an 
army  with  banners," 


CHAPTER   XXXI. 

JEHOVAH  THE  CHAMPION  OF  ISRAEL. 
Joshua  xxiii. 

THE  last  two  chapters  of  Joshua  are  very  like  each 
other.  Each  professes  to  be  a  report  of  the  aged 
leader's  farewell  meeting  with  the  heads  of  the  people. 
No  place  of  meeting  is  specified  in  the  one  ;  Shechem 
is  the  place  named  in  the  other.  The  address  reported 
in  the  twenty-third  chapter  is  in  somewhat  general 
terms  ;  in  the  twenty-fourth,  we  have  more  of  detail. 
The  question  arises,  Were  there  two  meetings,  or  have 
we  in  these  chapters  different  reports  of  the  same  ? 
The  question  is  of  no  great  importance  in  itself;  but 
it  bears  on  the  structure  of  the  book.  In  our  judgment, 
both  reports  bear  on  the  same  occasion ;  and  if  so,  all 
that  needs  to  be  said  as  to  their  origin  is,  that  the 
author  of  the  book,  having  obtained  two  reports  from 
trustworthy  sources,  did  not  adopt  the  plan  of  weaving 
them  into  one,  but  gave  them  separately,  just  as  he 
bad  received  them.  The  circumstance  is  a  proof  of 
the  trustworthiness  of  the  narrative  ;  had  the  writer 
put  on  record  merely  what  Joshua  might  be  supposed 
to.  have  said,  he  would  not  have  adopted  this  twofold 
form  of  narrative. 

Joshua  had  been  a  close  follower  of  Moses  in  many 
things,  and  now  he  follows  him  by  calling  the  people 

376 


xxiii.]      JEHOVAH   THE  CHAMPION  OF  ISRAEL.  377 

together  to  hear  his  closing  words.  On  the  edge  of 
the  future  life,  on  the  eve  of  giving  in  his  own  account, 
in  the  crisis  when  men  are  most  disposed  to  utter  the 
truth,  the  whole  truth,  and  nothing  but  the  truth,  he 
calls  his  children  around  him  to  hear  his  parting  words. 
He  knows,  as  Moses  also  knew,  the  impulsive,  fitful 
temper  of  the  people.  All  the  more  did  he  regard  it 
as  desirable  not  to  omit  such  an  opportunity  of  impres- 
sion. ''All  pathetic  occasions,"  it  has  been  well  said, 
**  should  be  treasured  in  the  memory  ;  the  last  inter- 
view, the  last  sermon,  the  last  prayer,  the  last  fond, 
lingering  look ;  all  these  things  may  be  frivolously 
treated  as  sentimental ;  but  he  who  treats  them  so  is 
a  fool  in  his  heart.  Whatever  can  subdue  the  spirit, 
chasten  the  character,  and  enlarge  the  charity  of  the 
soul,  should  be  encouraged  as  a  ministry  from  God."  ^ 

What  was  the  burden  of  Joshua's  address  ?  What 
was  alike  the  keynote,  and  the  central  note,  and  the 
closing  note — the  beginning,  and  the  middle,  and  the 
end  ?  You  have  it  in  the  words — "  The  Lord  your 
God  is  He  that  fighteth  for  you  "  ;  therefore  ''  cleave 
unto  the  Lord  your  God."  You  owe  everything  to 
the  Lord  ;  therefore  render  to  Him  all  His  due.  Let 
Him  receive  from  you  in  the  proportion  in  which  He 
has  given  to  you ;  let  Him  be  honoured  by  you  in  the 
ratio  in  which  you  have  been  blessed  by  Him  ;  and 
see  that  none  of  you  ever,  to  the  last  day  of  your 
lives,  give  the  faintest  countenance  to  the  idolatry  of 
your  neighbours,  or  consent  to  any  entangling  con- 
nection that  would  furnish  a  temptation  to  join  in  their 
wickedness. 

This  starting-point  of  Joshua's  address — ''  The  Lord 

^  "  The  People's  Bible,"  by  Joseph  Parker. 


378  THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 

your  God  is  He  that  fighteth  for  you  " — is  a  serious 
one,  and  demands  careful  investigation.  God  is 
expressly  set  forth  as  the  champion  of  Israel,  fighting 
for  him  against  the  Canaanites,  and  driving  them 
out.  He  is  here  the  God  of  battles  ;  and  the  terrible 
desolation  that  followed  the  track  of  Israel  is  here 
ascribed  to  the  championship  of  the  Most  High. 

There  are  some  expositors  who  explain  these  sayings 
in  a  general  sense.  There  are  great  laws  of  conquest, 
they  say,  roughly  sanctioned  by  Providence,  whereby 
one  race  advances  upon  another.  Nations  enervated 
through  luxury  and  idleness  are  usually  supplanted 
by  more  vigorous  races.  The  Goths  and  Vandals 
overcame  the  Romans  ;  the  Anglo-Saxons  subdued  the 
Britons,  to  be  in  time  conquered  by  the  Normans ; 
Dutch  rule  has  prevailed  over  the  negro,  English  over 
the  Hindu,  American  over  the  native  Indian.  In  the 
treatment  of  the  conquered  races  by  the  conquerors, 
there  has  often  been  much  that  is  gross  and  objection- 
able. Even  when  a  civilized  and  cultured  race  has 
had  to  deal  with  a  barbarous  one,  instead  of  the  sweet- 
ness and  light  of  culture  you  have  often  had  the 
devices  of  injustice  and  oppression.  We  cannot 
vindicate  all  the  rule  of  the  British  in  India  ;  greed, 
insolence,  and  lust  have  left  behind  them  many  a  stain. 
Still,  the  result  on  the  whole  has  been  for  good.  The 
English  have  a  higher  conception  of  human  life  than 
the  Hindus.  They  have  a  higher  sense  of  order,  of 
justice,  of  family  life,  of  national  well-being.  There 
is  a  vigour  about  them  that  will  not  tolerate  the  policy 
of  drifting  ;  that  cannot  stand  still  or  lie  still  and  see 
everything  going  wrong ;  that  strives  to  remedy  in- 
justice, to  reform  abuse,  to  correct  what  is  vicious  and 
disorderly,  and  foster  organization   and  progress.     In 


xxiii.]      JEHOVAH  THE  CHAMPION  OF  ISRAEL.  379 

these  respects  British  rule  has  been  a  benefit  to 
India.  There  may  have  been  deeds  of  oppression  and 
wrong  that  curdle  the  blood,  or  habits  of  self-indulgence 
may  have  been  practised  at  the  expense  of  the  natives 
that  shock  our  sense  of  humanit}^,  as  if  the  inferior 
race  could  have  no  rights  against  the  superior ;  but 
these  are  but  the  eddies  or  by-play  of  a  great  beneficent 
current,  and  in  the  summing  up  of  the  long  account 
they  hold  but  an  insignificant  place.  In  themselves, 
they  are  to  be  detested  and  denounced ;  but  when 
3^ou  are  estimating  great  national  forces,  when  you  are 
trying  the  question  whether  on  the  whole  these  forces 
have  been  beneficent  or  evil,  whether  they  have  been 
of  heaven  or  of  the  devil,  these  episodes  of  wrong  are 
not  to  be  allowed  to  determine  the  whole  question. 
You  are  constrained  to  take  a  wider  view.  And  when 
you  survey  the  grand  result ;  when  you  see  a  great 
continent  like  India  peaceable  and  orderly  that  used 
to  be  distracted  on  every  side  by  domestic  warfare  ; 
when  you  see  justice  carefully  administered,  life  and 
property  protected,  education  and  civilization  advanced, 
to  say  nothing  of  the  spirit  of  Christianity  introduced, 
you  are  unable  to  resist  the  conclusion  that  the  influence 
of  its  new  masters  has  been  a  gain  to  India,  and  there- 
fore that  the  British  rule  has  had  the  sanction  of 
heaven. 

We  say  there  are  some  expositors  who  hold  that 
it  is  only  in  a  way  parallel  to  this  that  the  conquest 
of  Canaan  by  the  Israelites  enjoyed  the  sanction  of 
God.  Without  making  a  great  deal  of  the  wickedness 
of  the  Canaanite  tribes,  they  dwell  on  their  weakness, 
their  poor  ideas  of  life,  their  feeble  aims,  their  want 
of  developing  power,  their  inability  to  rise.  Into  the 
heart  of  these  tribes  there   comes  a  race   that   some- 


38o  THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 

how  possesses  extraordinary  capabilities  and  force. 
History  has  shown  it  to  be  one  of  the  great  domi- 
nant races  of  the  world.  The  new  people  apply 
themselves  with  extraordinary  energy  to  acquire  the 
country  of  the  other.  Dispossession  of  one  race  by 
another  was  the  common  practice  of  the  times,  and 
in  a  moral  point  of  view  was  little  thought  of  The 
times  were  rude  and  wild,  property  had  not  become 
sacred,  human  life  was  cheap,  pain  and  suffering  got 
small  consideration.  Having  spent  some  centuries  in 
Egypt,  the  new  race  brought  with  it  a  share  of  Egyptian 
culture  and  accomplishment ;  but  its  great  strength  lay 
in  its  religious  ardour,  and  in  the  habits  of  order  and 
self-control  which  its  religion  fostered.  The  memory 
of  their  ancestors,  who  had  dwelt  as  pilgrims  in  that 
country,  but  under  the  strongest  promises  on  the  part 
of  God  that  He  would  give  it  as  an  inheritance  to 
their  descendants,  increased  the  ardour  of  the  invasion 
and  the  confidence  of  the  invaders.  With  all  the 
enthusiasm  of  a  heaven-guided  race,  they  dashed  against 
the  old  inhabitants,  who  staggered  under  the  blow. 
To  a  large  extent  the  former  occupants  fell  under  the 
usual  violence  of  invaders — the  sword  of  battle  and 
the  massacre  after  victory.  The  process  was  accom- 
panied by  many  wild  deeds,  which  in  these  days  of 
ours  would  excite  horror.  Had  it  been  completely 
successful  it  would  have  utterly  annihilated  the  native 
races ;  but  the  courage  and  perseverance  of  the  in- 
vaders were  not  equal  to  this  result ;  many  of  the 
original  mhabitants  remained,  and  were  finally  amal- 
gamated with  their  conquerors. 

Now,  in  this  case,  as  in  the  conquest  of  India  by 
Britain,  a  process  went  on  which  was  a  great  benefit 
on  a  large  scale.     It  was  not  designed  to  be  of  benefit 


xxiii.]       JEHOVAH  THE  CHAMPION  OF  ISRAEL.  3S1 


to  the  original  inhabitants,  as  was  the  British  occupation 
of  India,  for  they  were  a  doomed  race,  as  we  shall 
immediately  see.  But  the  settlement  of  the  people 
of  Israel  in  Canaan  was  designed  and  was  fitted  to  be 
a  great  benefit  to  the  world.  Explain  it  as  we  may, 
Israel  had  higher  ideas  of  life  than  the  other  nations, 
richer  gifts  of  head  and  heart,  more  capacity  of  govern- 
ing, and  a  far  purer  religious  sentiment.  Wherever 
Israel  might  be  planted,  if  he  remained  in  purity,  man- 
kind must  be  benefited.  A  people  so  gifted,  with  such 
intellectual  capacity,  with  such  moral  and  spiritual 
power,  with  such  high  ideals,  and  producing  from 
time  to  time  men  of  such  remarkable  character  and 
influence,  could  not  but  help  to  elevate  other  races. 
That  such  a  people  should  prevail  over  tribes  emas- 
culated by  vice,  degraded  by  idolatrous  superstition, 
and  enfeebled  and  stunted  through  mutual  strife,  was 
only  in  accordance  with  the  nature  of  things.  On  the 
principle  that  a  race  like  this  must  necessarily  prevail 
over  such  tribes  as  had  occupied  Palestine  before,  the 
conquest  of  Joshua  might  well  be  said  to  have  Divine 
approval.  God  might  truly  be  said  to  go  forth  with 
the  armies  of  Israel,  and  to  scatter  their  enemies  as 
smoke  is  scattered  by  the  wind. 

But  this  was  not  all.  There  was  already  a  judicial 
sentence  against  the  seven  nations  of  which  Israel  was 
appointed  to  be  the  executioner.  Even  in  Abraham's 
time  we  have  abundant  proof  that  they  were  far 
gone  in  corruption,  and  the  destruction  of  Sodom  and 
Gomorrah  was  but  an  early  stroke  of  that  holy  sword 
which  was  to  come  down  over  a  far  wider  area  when 
the  iniquity  of  the  Amorites  should  become  full.  We 
have  no  elaborate  account  of  the  moral  and  religious 
condition  of  the  people  in  Joshua's  time,  but  we  have 


382  THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 

certain  glimpses  which  tell  much.  In  the  story  of 
Baal-peor  we  have  an  awful  picture  of  the  idolatrous 
debauchery  of  the  Moabites ;  and  the  Moabites  were 
not  so  sunk  in  vice  as  the  Canaanites.  The  first 
Canaanite  house  that  any  of  the  Israelites  entered  was 
that  of  an  immoral  woman,  who,  however,  was  saved 
by  her  faith,  as  any  and  every  Canaanite  would  have 
been  had  he  believed.  The  most  revolting  picture  we 
have  of  Canaanite  vice  is  connected  with  the  burning 
of  children  alive  in  sacrifice  to  the  gods.  What  a 
hideous  practice  it  was  1  Who  can  estimate  its  effect 
on  the  blithe  nature  of  children,  or  tell  how  the  very 
thought  of  it  and  the  possibility  of  suffering  from  it 
must  have  weighed  like  a  nightmare  on  many  a  child, 
converting  the  season  of  merry  childhood  into  a  time 
of  dreadful  foreboding,  if  not  for  themselves,  at  least 
for  some  of  their  companions.  Loathsome  vice  con- 
secrated by  the  seal  of  religion  ;  unnatural  lust,  turning 
human  beings  into  worse  than  beasts  ;  natural  affec- 
tion converted  into  an  instrument  of  the  most  horrid 
cruelty — could  any  practices  show  more  powerfully  the 
hopeless  degradation  of  these  nations  in  a  moral  and 
religious  sense,  or  their  ripeness  for  judgment  ?  Israel 
was  the  appointed  executioner  of  God's  justice  against 
them,  and  in  order  that  Israel  might  fulfil  that  function, 
God  went  before  him  in  his  battles  and  delivered 
his  enemies  into  his  hands.  And  what  Israel  did  in 
this  way  was  done  under  a  solemn  sense  that  he 
was  inflicting  Divine  retribution.  That  the  process 
was  carried  out  with  something  of  the  solemnity  of 
an  execution  appears,  as  we  have  already  seen,  from 
the  injunction  at  Jericho,  which  forbade  all  on  pain 
of  death  to  touch  an  atom  of  the  spoil.  And  this 
lesson  was  burnt  into  their  inmost  souls  by  the  terrible 


xxiii.]      JEHOVAH  THE  CHAMPION  OF  ISRAEL.  383 

fate  of  Achan.  Afterwards,  it  is  true,  they  were 
allowed  to  appropriate  the  spoil,  but  not  till  after  they 
had  been  taught  most  impressively  at  Jericho  that 
the  spoil  was  God's,  so  that,  even  when  it  became 
theirs,  it  was  as  if  they  had  received  it  from  His  hand. 

We  cannot  suppose  that  the  people  uniformly  acted 
with  the  moderation  and  self-restraint  becoming  God's 
executioners.  No  doubt  there  were  many  instances 
of  unwarrantable  and  inhuman  violence.  Such  excesses 
are  unavoidable  when  human  beings  are  employed  as 
the  executioners  of  God.  To  charge  these  on  God  is 
not  fair.  They  were  the  spots  and  stains  that  ever 
indicate  the  hand  of  man,  even  when  doing  the  work  of 
God.  It  is  not  necessary  to  approve  of  these  while  we 
vindicate  the  law  which  doomed  the  Canaanites  to  ex- 
termination, and  made  the  Israelites  their  executioners. 
It  is  not  necessary  to  vindicate  all  that  the  English 
have  done  in  India,  while  we  hold  that  their  presence 
and  influence  there  have  been  in  accordance  with  a 
Divine  and  beneficent  purpose.  Where  God  and  man 
are  in  partnership,  we  may  expect  a  chequered  product, 
but  never  let  us  ascribe  the  flaws  of  one  to  the  influence 
of  the  other. 

If  it  be  said  that  the  language  of  the  historian  seems 
sometime  to  ascribe  to  God  what  really  arose  from  the 
passions  of  the  people,  it  is  to  be  observed  that  we  are 
not  told  in  what  form  the  Lord  communicated  His 
commands.  No  doubt  the  Hebrews  were  disposed  to 
claim  Divine  authority  for  what  they  did  to  the  very 
fullest  extent.  There  may  have  been  times  when  they 
imagined  that  they  were  fulfilling  the  requirements  of 
God,  when  they  were  only  giving  effect  to  feelings  of 
their  own.  And  generally  they  may  have  been  prone 
to  suppose  that  modes  of  slaughter  that  seemed  to  them 


384  THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 

quite  proper  were  well  pleasing  in  the  sight  of  God. 
They  may  have  believed  that  God  participated  in  what 
was  in  reality  but  the  spirit  of  the  age.  Thus  they 
may  have  been  led  to  think,  and  through  them  the 
impression  may  have  come  to  us,  that  God  had  a  more 
active  hand,  so  to  speak,  in  many  of  the  details  of 
warfare  than  we  ought  to  ascribe  to  Him.  For  God 
often  accomplishes  His  holy  purposes  by  leaving  His 
instruments  to  act  in  their  own  way. 

But  we  have  wandered  from  Joshua,  and  the  assembly 
of  Israel.  What  we  have  been  trying  is  to  show  the 
soundness  of  Joshua's  fundamental  position — that  God 
fought  for  Israel.  The  same  thing  might  be  shown  by 
a  negative  process.  If  God  had  not  been  actively  and 
supernaturally  with  Israel,  Israel  could  never  have 
become  what  he  was.  What  made  Israel  so  remarkable 
and  powerful  a  nation  ?  If  you  appeal  to  heredity  and 
go  back  to  his  forefather,  you  find  the  whole  career  of 
Abraham  determined  by  what  he  undoubtedly  regarded 
as  a  supernatural  promise,  that  in  him  and  his  seed  all 
the  families  of  the  earth  should  be  blessed.  If  you 
speak  of  Moses  as  the  founder  of  the  nation,  you  find 
a  man  who  was  utterly  defeated  and  humiliated  when 
he  acted  on  his  own  resources,  and  successful  only 
when  he  came  in  contact  with  supernatural  might.  If 
you  inquire  into  the  cause  of  the  military  superiority 
of  Israel,  you  cannot  find  it  in  their  slave  condition  in 
Egypt,  nor  in  their  wandering,  pastoral  life  in  the  desert. 
You  are  baffled  in  trying  to  account  for  the  warlike 
energy  and  skill  that  swept  the  Canaanites  with  all 
their  resources  before  their  invincible  might.  That  an 
Alexander  the  Great,  or  a  Caesar,  or  a  Napoleon,  with 
their  long  experience,  their  trained  legions,  their  splendid 
prestige  and   unrivalled   resources,  should  have  swept 


xxiii.]      JEHOVAH  THE  CHAMPION  OF  ISRAEL,  385 

the  board  of  their  enemies  we  do  not  wonder.  But 
Moses  and  his  bevy  of  slaves,  Joshua  and  his  army  of 
shepherds — what  could  have  made  such  soldiers  of 
these  men  if  the  Lord  had  not  fought  on  their  side  ? 

The  getting  possession  of  Canaan,  as  Joshua  reminded 
the  people,  was  a  threefold  process  :  God  fighting  for 
them  had  subdued  their  enemies  ;  Joshua  had  divided 
the  land  ;  and  now  God  was  prepared  to  expel  the 
remaining  people,  but  only  through  their  instrumen- 
tahty.  Emphasis  is  laid  on  ''  expelling  "  and  "  driving 
out  "  (ver.  5),  from  which  v/e  gather  that  further  mas- 
sacre was  not  to  take  place,  but  that  the  remainder  of 
the  Canaanites  must  seek  settlements  elsewhere.  A 
sufficient  retribution  had  fallen  on  them  for  their  sins, 
in  the  virtual  destruction  of  their  people  and  the  loss 
of  their  country ;  the  miserable  remnant  might  have 
a  chance  of  escape,  in  some  ill-filled  country  where  they 
would  never  rise  to  influence  and  where  terror  would 
restrain  them  from  their  former  wickedness. 

Joshua  was  very  emphatic  in  forbidding  intermarriage 
and  friendly  social  intercourse  with  Canaanites.  He 
saw  much  need  for  the  prayer,  ''  Lead  us  not  into 
temptation."  He  understood  the  meaning  of  enchanted 
ground.  He  knew  that  between  the  realm  of  holiness 
and  the  realm  of  sin  there  is  a  kind  of  neutral  territory, 
which  belongs  strictly  to  neither,  but  which  slopes 
towards  the  realm  of  sin,  and  in  point  of  fact  most 
commonly  furnishes  recruits  not  a  few  to  the  army  of 
evil.  Alas,  how  true  is  this  still !  Marriages  between 
believers  and  unbelievers  ;  friendly  social  fellowship, 
on  equal  terms,  between  the  Church  and  the  world  ; 
partnership  in  business  between  the  godly  and  the 
ungodly — -who  does  not  know  the  usual  result  ?  In  a 
few  solitary  cases,  it  may  be,  the  child  of  the  world  is 

25 


386  THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 

brought  into  the  kingdom ;  but  in  how  many  instances 
do  we  find  the  buds  of  Christian  promise  nipped,  and 
lukewarmness  and  backsliding,  if  not  apostasy,  coming 
in  their  room  1  There  is  no  better  help  for  the  Chris- 
tian life,  no  greater  encouragement  to  fellowship  with 
God,  than  congenial  fellowship  with  other  Christians, 
especially  in  the  home,  as  there  is  no  greater  hindrance 
to  these  things  than  an  alien  spirit  there.  And  if  men 
and  women  would  remember  that  of  all  that  concerns 
them  in  this  life  their  relation  to  God  is  infinitely 
the  most  momentous,  and  that  whatever  brings  that 
relation  into  peril  is  the  evil  of  all  others  most  to  be 
dreaded,  we  should  not  find  them  so  ready  for  en- 
tangling connections  which  may  be  a  gain  for  the 
things  of  this  world,  but  for  the  things  of  eternity  are 
commonly  a  grievous  loss. 

It  is  a  very  vivid  picture  that  Joshua  draws  of  the 
effects  of  that  sinful  compromise  with  their  Canaanite 
neighbours  against  which  he  had  warned  them.  ''  If 
ye  do  in  any  wise  go  back,  and  cleave  unto  the  remnant 
of  these  nations,  even  these  that  remain  among  you, 
and  shall  make  marriages  with  them,  and  go  in  unto 
them,  and  they  to  you  :  know  for  a  certainty  that  the 
Lord  your  God  will  no  more  drive  out  any  of  these 
nations  from  before  you  ;  but  they  shall  be  snares  and 
traps  unto  you,  and  scourges  in  your  sides,  and  thorns 
in  your  eyes,  until  ye  perish  from  off  this  good  land 
which  the  Lord  your  God  hath  given  you." 

The  Garden  of  Eden  was  not  the  only  paradise  that 
sin  ruined.  Here  was  something  like  a  new  paradise 
for  the  children  of  Israel ;  and  yet  there  was  a  possi- 
bility— more  than  a  possibility — of  its  being  ruined  by 
sin.  The  history  of  the  future  showed  that  Joshua  was 
right.     The  Canaanites   remaining  in    the   land   were 


xxiii.]      JEHOVAH  THE  CHAMPION  OF  ISRAEL.  387 


scourges  and  thorns  to  the  people  of  Israel,  and  the 
compliance  of  Israel  with  their  idolatrous  ways  led  first 
to  invasion  and  oppression,  then  to  captivity  and  exile, 
and  finally  to  dispersion  over  the  face  of  the  earth. 
However  sin  may  deceive  at  the  beginning,  in  the  end 
it  always  proves  true  to  its  real  character — "  the  wages 
of  sin  is  death."  The  trouble  is  that  men  will  not 
believe  what  they  do  not  like  to  believe.  Sin  has  many 
a  pleasure ;  and  as  long  as  the  pleasure  is  not  gross, 
but  wears  an  air  of  refinement,  there  seems  no  harm  in 
it,  and  it  is  freely  enjoyed.  But,  unseen,  it  works  like 
dry-rot,  pulverising  the  soul,  destroying  all  traces  of 
spiritual  relish  or  enjoyment  of  Divine  things,  and 
attaching  the  heart  more  strongly  to  mere  material 
good.  And  sometimes  when  death  comes  in  sight 
and  it  is  felt  that  God  has  to  be  reckoned  with,  and 
the  effort  is  honestly  made  to  prepare  for  that  solemn 
meeting  by  looking  to  the  Divine  Redeemer,  the  bent 
of  the  heart  is  found  to  be  entirely  the  other  way. 
Faith  and  repentance  will  not  come ;  turning  Godwards 
is  an  uncongenial,  an  impossible  attitude  ;  the  heart 
has  its  roots  too  much  in  the  world  to  be  thus  with- 
drawn from  it.  They  allowed  themselves  to  be  drawn 
away  from  their  early  hope  by  the  influence  of  worldly 
fellowship,  to  find  that  it  profits  a  man  nothing  to  gain 
the  whole  world  if  he  lose  his  own  soul. 

How  awful  are  the  words  of  St.  James  :  *^  Ye  adul- 
terers and  adulteresses,  know  ye  not  that  the  friendship 
of  the  world  is  enmity  with  God?  Whosoever,  therefore, 
will  be  a  friend  of  the  world  is  the  enemy  of  God." 


CHAPTER    XXXII. 

JOSHUA'S    LAST   APPEAL. 
Joshua  xxiv. 

IT  was  at  Shechem  that  Joshua's  last  meeting  with 
the  people  took  place.  The  Septuagint  makes  it 
Shiloh  in  one  verse  (ver.  i),  but  Shechem  in  another 
(ver.  25)  ;  but  there  is  no  sufficient  reason  for  rejecting 
the  common  reading.  Joshua  might  feel  that  a  meeting 
which  was  not  connected  v/ith  the  ordinary  business  of 
the  sanctuary,  but  which  was  more  for  a  personal  pur- 
pose, a  solemn  leave-taking  on  his  part  from  the  people, 
might  be  held  better  at  Shechem.  There  was  much  to 
recommend  that  place.  It  lay  a  few  miles  to  the  north- 
west of  Shiloh,  and  was  not  only  distinguished  (as  we 
have  already  said)  as  Abraham's  first  resting-place  in 
the  country,  and  the  scene  of  the  earliest  of  the  pro- 
mises given  in  it  to  him  ;  but  likewise  as  the  place 
where,  between  Mounts  Ebal  and  Gerizim,  the  blessings 
and  curses  of  the  law  had  been  read  out  soon  after 
Joshua  entered  the  land,  and  the  solemn  assent  of  the 
people  given  to  them.  And  whereas  it  is  said  (ver.  26) 
that  the  great  stone  set  up  as  a  witness  was  ^'by 
the  sanctuary  of  the  Lord,"  this  stone  may  have  been 
placed  at  Shiloh  after  the  meeting,  because  there  it 
would  be  more  fully  in  the  observation  of  the  people 
as  they  came  up  to  the  annual  festivals  (see  i  Sam. 
i.  7,  9).     Shechem  was  therefore  the  scene  of  Joshua's 

388 


xxiv'.J  JOSHUA'S  LAST  APPEAL.  389 


farewell  address.  Possibly  it  was  delivered  close  to 
the  well  of  Jacob  and  the  tomb  of  Joseph ;  at  the  very 
place  where,  many  centuries  later,  the  New  Testament 
Joshua  sat  wearied  with  His  journey,  and  unfolded  the 
riches  of  Divine  grace  to  the  woman  of  Samaria. 

I.  In  the  record  of  Joshua's  speech  contained  in  the 
twenty-fourth  chapter,  he  begins  by  rehearsing  the 
history  of  the  nation.  He  has  an  excellent  reason  for 
beginning  with  the  revered  name  of  Abraham,  because 
Abraham  had  been  conspicuous  for  that  very  grace, 
loj^alty  to  Jehovah,  which  he  is  bent  on  impressing  on 
them.  Abraham  had  made  a  solemn  choice  in  religion. 
He  had  deliberately  broken  with  one  kind  of  worship, 
and  accepted  another.  His  fathers  had  been  idolaters, 
and  he  had  been  brought  up  an  idolater.  But  Abraham 
renounced  idolatry  for  ever.  He  did  this  at  a  great 
sacrifice,  and  what  Joshua  entreated  of  the  people  was, 
that  they  would  be  as  thorough  and  as  firm  as  he  was 
in  their  repudiation  of  idolatry.  The  rehearsal  of  the 
history  is  given  in  the  words  of  God  to  remind  them 
that  the  whole  history  of  Israel  had  been  planned  and 
ordered  by  Him.  He  had  been  among  them  from  first 
to  last ;  He  had  been  with  them  through  all  the  lives  of 
the  patriarchs  ;  it  was  He  that  had  delivered  them  from 
Egypt  by  Moses  and  Aaron,  that  had  buried  the 
Egyptians  under  the  waters  of  the  sea,  that  had  driven 
the  Amorites  out  of  the  eastern  provinces,  had  turned 
the  curse  of  Balaam  into  a  blessing,  had  dispossessed 
the  seven  nations,  and  had  settled  the  Israelites  in  their 
pleasant  and  peaceful  abodes. 

We  mark  in  this  rehearsal  the  well-known  features 
of  the  national  history,  as  they  were  always  represented  ; 
the  frank  recognition  of  the  supernatural,  with  no  indica- 
tion of  myth  or  legend,  with  nothing  of  the  mist  or 


390  THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA, 

glamour  in  which  the  legend  is  commonly  enveloped. 
And,  seeing  that  God  had  done  all  this  for  them,  the 
inference  was  that  He  was  entitled  to  their  heartiest 
lo3'alt3^  and  obedience.  ^'  Now  therefore  fear  the  Lord, 
and  serve  Him  in  sincerity  and  in  truth  :  and  put  away 
the  gods  which  your  fathers  served  on  the  other  side 
of  the  flood,  and  in  Egypt ;  and  serve  ye  the  Lord."  It 
seems  strange  that  at  that  very  time  the  people  needed 
to  be  called  to  put  away  other  gods.  But  this  only 
shows  how  destitute  of  foundation  the  common  impres- 
sion is,  that  from  and  after  the  departure  from  Egypt 
the  whole  host  of  Israel  were  inclined  to  the  law  as 
it  had  been  given  by  Moses.  There  was  still  a  great 
amount  of  idolatry  among  them,  and  a  strong  tendency 
towards  it.  They  were  not  a  wholly  reformed  or 
converted  people.  This  Joshua  knew  right  well ;  he 
knew  that  there  was  a  suppressed  fire  among  them 
liable  to  burst  into  a  conflagration  ;  hence  his  aggressive 
attitude,  and  his  effort  to  foster  an  aggressive  spirit 
in  them  ;  he  must  bind  them  over  by  every  consideration 
to  renounce  wholly  all  recognition  of  other  gods,  and 
to  make  Jehovah  the  one  only  object  of  their  worship. 
Never  was  a  good  man  more  in  earnest,  or  more 
thoroughly  persuaded  that  all  that  made  for  a  nation's 
welfare  was  involved  in  the  course  which  he  pressed 
upon  them. 

2.  But  Joshua  did  not  urge  this  merely  on  the 
strength  of  his  own  conviction.  He  must  enlist  their 
reason  on  his  side  ;  and  for  this  cause  he  now  called 
on  them  deliberately  to  weigh  the  claims  of  other  gods 
and  the  advantages  of  other  modes  of  worship,  and 
choose  that  which  must  be  pronounced  the  best.  There 
were  four  claimants  to  be  considered  :  (i)  Jehovah  ; 
(2)  the  Chaldaean  gods  worshipped  by  their  ancestors ; 


xxiv.]  JOSHUA'S  LAST  APPEAL.  391 

(3)  the  gods  of  the  Egyptians  ;  and  (4)  the  gods  of  the 
Amorites  among  whom  they  dwelt.  Make  your  choice 
between  these,  said  Joshua,  if  you  are  dissatisfied  with 
Jehovah.  But  could  there  be  any  reasonable  choice 
between  these  gods  and  Jehovah  ?  It  is  often  useful, 
when  we  hesitate  as  to  a  course,  to  set  down  the 
various  reasons  for  and  against, — it  ma}^  be  the  reasons 
of  our  judgment  against  the  reasons  of  our  feelings ; 
for  often  this  course  enables  us  to  see  how  utterly  the 
one  outweighs  the  other.  May  it  not  be  useful  for  us 
to  do  as  Joshua  urged  Israel  to  do  ? 

If  we  set  down  the  reasons  for  making  God,  God  in 
Christ,  the  supreme  object  of  our  worship,  against  those 
in  favour  of  the  world,  how  infinitely  will  the  one  scale 
outweigh  the  other !  In  the  choice  of  a  master,  it 
is  reasonable  for  a  servant  to  consider  which  has  the 
greatest  claim  upon  him  ;  which  is  intrinsicall}^  the  most 
worthy  to  be  served  ;  which  will  bring  him  the  greatest 
advantages  ;  which  will  give  him  most  inward  satisfac- 
tion and  peace  ;  which  will  exercise  the  best  influence 
on  his  character,  and  which  comes  recommended  most 
by  old  servants  whose  testimony  ought  to  weigh 
with  him.  If  these  are  the  grounds  of  a  reasonable 
choice  in  the  case  of  a  servant  engaging  with  a  master, 
how  much  more  in  reference  to  the  Master  of  our 
spirits  !  Nothing  can  be  plainer  than  that  the  Israelites 
in  Joshua's  time  had  every  conceivable  reason  for 
choosing  their  fathers'  God  as  the  supreme  object  of 
their  worship,  and  that  any  other  course  would  have 
been  alike  the  guiltiest  and  the  silliest  that  could  have 
been  taken.  Are  the  reasons  a  whit  less  powerful  why 
every  one  of  us  should  devote  heart  and  life  and  mind 
and  soul  to  the  service  of  Him  w^ho  gave  Himself 
for  us,  and  has  loved  us  with  an  everlasting  love  ? 


392  THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 

3.  But  Joshua  is  fully  prepared  to  add  example  to 
precept.  Whatever  you  do  in  this  matter,  my  mind 
is  made  up,  my  course  is  clear — *'  as  for  me  and  my 
house,  we  will  serve  Jehovah."  He  reminds  us  of  a 
general  exhorting  his  troops  to  mount  the  deadly 
breach  and  dash  into  the  enemy's  citadel.  Strong  and 
urgent  are  his  appeals ;  but  stronger  and  more  telling 
is  his  act  when,  facing  the  danger  right  in  front,  he 
rushes  on,  determined  that,  whatever  others  may  do, 
he  will  not  flinch  from  his  duty.  It  is  the  old  Joshua 
back  again,  the  Joshua  that  alone  with  Caleb  stood 
faithful  amid  the  treachery  of  the  spies,  that  has  been 
loyal  to  God  all  his  life,  and  now  in  the  decrepitude 
of  old  age  is  still  prepared  to  stand  alone  rather  than 
dishonour  the  living  God.  ''  As  for  me  and  my  house, 
we  will  serve  the  Lord."  He  was  happ}^  in  being 
able  to  associate  his.  house  with  himself  as  sharing 
his  convictions  and  his  purpose.  He  owed  this,  in  all 
likelihood,  to  his  own  firm  and  intrepid  attitude  through- 
out his  life.  His  house  saw  how  consistently  and 
constantly  he  recognised  the  supreme  claims  of  Jehovah. 
Not  less  clearly  did  they  see  how  constantly  he  ex- 
perienced the  blessedness  of  his  choice. 

4.  Convinced  by  his  arguments,  moved  by  his 
eloquence,  and  carried  along  by  the  magnetism  of  his 
example,  the  people  respond  with  enthusiasm,  deprecate 
the  very  thought  of  forsaking  Jehovah  to  serve  other 
gods,  and  recognise  most  cordially  the  claims  he  has 
placed  them  under,  by  delivering  them  from  Egypt, 
preserving  them  in  the  wilderness,  and  driving  out  the 
Amorites  from  their  land.  After  this  an  ordinary 
leader  would  have  felt  quite  at  ease,  and  would  have 
thanked  God  that  his  appeal  had  met  with  such  a 
response,  and  that  such  demonstration  had  been  given 


xxiv.]  JOSHUA 'S  LAST  APPEAL,  393 


of  the  loyalty  of  the  people.  But  Joshua  knew  some- 
thing of  their  fickle  temper.  He  may  have  called  to 
mind  the  extraordinary  enthusiasm  of  their  fathers 
when  the  tabernacle  was  in  preparation  ;  the  singular 
readiness  with  which  they  had  contributed  their  most 
valued  treasures,  and  the  grievous  change  they  under- 
went after  the  return  of  the  spies.  Even  an  enthu- 
siastic burst  like  this  is  not  to  be  trusted.  He  must 
go  deeper ;  he  must  try  to  induce  them  to  think  more 
earnestly  of  the  matter,  and  not  trust  to  the  feeling 
of  the  moment. 

5.  Hence  he  draws  a  somewhat  dark  picture  of 
Jehovah's  character.  He  dwells  on  those  attributes 
which  are  least  agreeable  to  the  natural  man,  His 
hohness,  His  jealousy,  and  His  inexorable  opposition 
to  sin.  When  he  says,  "  He  will  not  forgive  your 
transgi'essions  nor  your  sins,"  he  cannot  mean  that 
God  is  not  a  God  of  forgiveness.  He  cannot  wish  to 
contradict  the  first  part  of  that  gracious  memorial  which 
God  gave  to  Moses  :  ''  The  Lord,  the  Lord  God  merciful 
and  gracious,  longsuffering  and  abundant  in  goodness 
and  truth,  forgiving  iniquity  and  transgression  and 
sin."  His  object  is  to  emphasize  the  clause,  "  and  that 
will  by  no  means  clear  the  guilty."  Evidentl}^  he  means 
that  the  sin  of  idolatry  is  one  that  God  cannot  pass  over, 
cannot  fail  to  punish,  until,  probably  through  terrible 
judgments,  the  authors  of  it  are  brought  to  contrition, 
and  humble  themselves  in  the  dust  before  him.  '*  Ye 
cannot  serve  the  Lord,"  said  Joshua  ;  ^'  take  care  how 
you  undertake  what  is  beyond  your  strength  I  "  Per- 
haps he  wished  to  impress  on  them  the  need  of  Divine 
strength  for  so  difficult  a  duty.  Certainly  he  did  not 
change  their  purpose,  but  only  drew  from  them  a  more 
resolute  expression.   ''  Nay ;  but  we  will  serve  the  Lord, 


394  THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 

And  Joshua  said  unto  the  people,  Ye  are  witnesses 
against  yourselves  that  ye  have  chosen  the  Lord  to 
serve  Him.     And  they  said,  We  are  witnesses." 

6.  And  now  Joshua  comes  to  a  point  which  had 
doubtless  been  in  his  mind  all  the  time,  but  which  he 
had  been  waiting  for  a  favourable  opportunity  to  bring 
forward.  He  had  pledged  the  people  to  an  absolute 
and  unreserved  service  of  God,  and  now  he  demands  a 
practical  proof  of  their  sincerity.  He  knows  quite  well 
that  they  have  ^'strange  gods"  among  them.  Teraphim, 
images,  or  ornaments  having  a  reference  to  the  pagan 
gods,  he  knows  that  they  possess.  And  he  does  not 
speak  as  if  this  were  a  rare  thing,  confined  to  a  very  few. 
He  speaks  as  if  it  were  a  common  practice,  generally 
prevalent.  Again  we  see  how  far  from  the  mark  we  are 
when  we  think  of  the  whole  nation  as  cordially  follow- 
ing the  religion  of  Moses,  in  the  sense  of  renouncing  all 
other  gods.  Minor  forms  of  idolatry,  minor  recogni- 
tions of  the  gods  of  the  Chaldaeans  and  the  Egyptians 
and  the  Amorites,  were  prevalent  even  yet.  Probably 
Joshua  called  to  mind  the  scene  that  had  occurred  at 
that  very  place  hundreds  of  years  before,  when  Jacob, 
rebuked  by  God,  and  obliged  to  remove  from  Shechem, 
called  on  his  household  :  ''  Put  away  the  strange  gods 
that  are  among  you,  and  be  clean,  and  change  your 
garments.  .  .  .  And  they  gave  unto  Jacob  all  the 
strange  gods  which  were  in  the  land,  and  all  the  ear-rings 
which  were  in  their  ears  ;  and  Jacob  hid  them  under 
the  oak  which  was  by  Shechem."  Alas  !  that,  centuries 
later,  it  was  necessary  for  Joshua  in  the  same  place  to 
issue  the  same  order, — Put  away  the  gods  which  are 
among  you,  and  serve  ye  the  Lord.  What  a  weed  sin 
is,  and  how  it  is  for  ever  reappearing !  And  reappear- 
ing among  ourselves  too,   in  a  different  variety,  but 


xxiv.]  JOSHUA 'S  LAST  APPEAL.  395 

essentially  the  same.  For  what  honest  and  earnest 
heart  does  not  feel  that  there  are  idols  and  images 
among  ourselves  that  interfere  with  God's  claims  and 
God's  glory  as  much  as  the  teraphim  and  the  ear-rings 
of  the  Israelites  did  ?  The  images  of  the  Israelites 
were  little  images,  and  it  was  probably  at  by-times  and 
in  retirement  that  they  made  use  of  them ;  and  so,  it 
may  not  be  on  the  leading  occasions  or  in  the  outstand- 
ing work  of  our  lives  that  we  are  wont  to  dishonour 
God.  But  who  that  knows  himself  but  must  think  with 
humiliation  of  the  numberless  occasions  on  which  he 
indulges  little  whims  or  inclinations  without  thinking 
of  the  will  of  God  ;  the  many  little  acts  of  his  daily  life 
on  which  conscience  is  not  brought  to  bear  ;  the  dis- 
engaged state  of  his  mind  from  that  supreme  controlling 
influence  which  would  bear  on  it  if  God  were  con- 
stantly recognised  as  his  Master  ?  And  who  does  not 
find  that,  despite  his  endeavour  from  time  to  time  to  be 
more  conscientious,  the  old  habit,  like  a  weed  whose 
roots  have  only  been  cut  over,  is  ever  showing  itself 
alive  ? 

7.  And  now  comes  the  closing  and  clinching  trans- 
action of  this  meeting  at  Shechem.  Joshua  enters  into 
a  formal  covenant  with  the  people  ;  he  records  their 
words  in  the  book  of  the  law  of  the  Lord ;  he  takes  a 
great  stone  and  sets  it  up  under  an  oak  that  was  by 
the  sanctuary  of  the  Lord ;  and  he  constitutes  the  stone 
a  witness,  as  if  it  had  heard  all  that  had  been  spoken 
by  the  Lord  to  them  and  by  them  to  the  Lord. 
The  covenant  was  a  transaction  invested  with  special 
solemnity  among  all  Eastern  peoples,  and  especially 
among  the  Israelites.  Many  instances  had  occurred 
in  their  history,  of  covenants  with  God,  and  of  other 
covenants,  like  that  of  Abraham   with  Abimelech,  or 


596  THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 


that  of  Jacob  with  Laban.  The  wanton  violation  of  a 
covenant  was  held  an  act  of  gross  impiety,  deserving 
the  reprobation  alike  of  God  and  man.  When  Joshua 
got  the  people  bound  by  a  transaction  of  this  sort,  he 
seemed  to  obtain  a  new  guarantee  for  their  fidelity ;  a 
new  barrier  was  erected  against  their  lapsing  into 
idolatry.  It  was  natural  for  him  to  expect  that  some 
good  would  come  of  it,  and  no  doubt  it  contributed  to 
the  happy  result ;  "  for  Israel  served  the  Lord  all  the 
days  of  Joshua,  and  all  the  da3^s  of  the  elders  which 
overlived  Joshua,  and  which  had  known  all  the  works 
of  the  Lord  that  He  had  done  for  Israel."  And  yet  it 
was  but  a  temporary  barrier  against  a  flood  which 
seem.ed  ever  to  be  gathering  strength  unseen,  and 
preparing  for  another  fierce  discharge  of  its  disastrous 
waters. 

At  the  least,  this  meeting  secured  for  Joshua  a  peace- 
ful sunset,  and  enabled  him  to  sing  his  "Nunc  dimittis." 
The  evil  which  he  dreaded  most  was  not  at  work  as 
the  current  of  life  ebbed  away  from  him ;  it  was  his 
great  privilege  to  look  round  him  and  see  his  people 
faithful  to  their  God.  It  does  not  appear  that  Joshua 
had  any  very  comprehensive  or  far-reaching  aims  with 
reference  to  the  moral  training  and  development  of  the 
people.  His  idea  of  religion  seems  to  have  been,  a  very 
simple  loyalty  to  Jehovah,  in  opposition  to  the  perver- 
sions of  idolatry.  It  is  not  even  very  plain  whether 
or  not  he  was  much  impressed  by  the  capacity  of  true 
religion  to  pervade  all  the  relations  and  engagements 
of  men,  and  brighten  and  purify  the  whole  life.  We  are 
too  prone  to  ascribe  all  the  virtues  to  the  good  men  of 
the  Old  Testament,  forgetting  that  of  many  virtues 
there  was  only  a  progressive  development,  and  that  it 
is   not  reasonable  to  look  for  excellence  beyond   the 


xxiv.]  JOSHUA'S  LAST  APPEAL.  397 


measure  of  the  age.  Joshua  was  a  soldier,  a  soldier 
of  the  Old  Testament,  a  splendid  man  for  his  day,  but 
not  beyond  his  day.  As  a  soldier,  his  business  was 
to  conquer  his  enemies,  and  to  be  loyal  to  his  heavenly 
Master.  It  did  not  lie  to  him  to  enforce  the  number- 
less bearings  which  the  spirit  of  trust  in  God  might 
have  on  all  the  interests  of  life — on  the  family,  on 
books,  on  agriculture  and  commerce,  or  on  the  develop- 
ment of  the  humanities,  and  the  courtesies  of  society. 
Other  men  were  raised  up  from  time  to  time,  many 
other  men,  with  commission  from  God  to  devote  their 
energies  to  such  matters. 

It  is  quite  possible  that,  under  Joshua,  religion  did 
not  appear  in  very  close  relation  to  many  things  that 
are  lovely  and  of  good  report.  A  celebrated  English 
writer  (Matthew  Arnold)  has  asked  whether,  if  Virgil 
or  Shakespeare  had  sailed  in  the  Mayflower  with  the 
puritan  fathers,  they  would  have  found  themselves  in 
congenial  society.  The  question  is  not  a  fair  one,  for  it 
supposes  that  men  whose  destiny  was  to  fight  as  for  very 
life,  and  for  what  was  dearer  than  life,  were  of  the  same 
mould  with  others  who  could  devote  themselves  in 
peaceful  leisure  to  the  amenities  of  literature,  Joshua 
had  doubtless  much  of  the  ruggedness  of  the  early 
soldier,  and  it  is  not  fair  to  blame  him  for  want  of 
sweetness  and  light.  Very  probably  it  was  from  him 
that  Deborah  drew  somewhat  of  her  scorn,  and  Jael, 
the  wife  of  Heber,  of  her  rugged  courage.  The  whole 
Book  of  Judges  is  penetrated  by  his  spirit.  He  was 
not  the  apostle  of  charity  or  gentleness.  He  had  one 
virtue,  but  it  was  the  supreme  virtue — he  honoured 
God.  Wherever  God's  claims  were  involved,  he  could 
see  nothing,  listen  to  nothing,  care  for  nothing,  but 
that  He   should   obtain    His   due.       Wherever   God's 


398  THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 

claims  were  acknowledged  and  fulfilled,  things  \yere 
essentially  right,  and  other  interests  would  come  right. 
For  his  absolute  and  supreme  loyalty  to  his  Lord  he 
is  entitled  to  our  highest  reverence.  This  loyalty  is  a 
rare  virtue,  in  the  sublime  proportions  in  which  it 
appeared  in  him.  When  a  man  honours  God  in  this 
way,  he  has  something  of  the  appearance  of  a  super- 
natural being,  rising  high  above  the  fears  and  the 
feebleness  of  poor  humanity.  He  fills  his  fellows  with 
a  sort  of  awe. 

Among  the  reformers,  the  puritans,  and  the  coven- 
anters such  men  were  often  found.  The  best  of  them, 
indeed,  were  men  of  this  type,  and  very  genuine  men 
they  were.  They  were  not  men  whom  the  world 
loved  ;  they  were  too  jealous  of  God's  claims  for  that, 
and  too  severe  on  those  who  refused  them.  And  we 
have  still  the  type  of  the  fighting  Christian.  But  alas  I 
it  is  a  type  subject  to  fearful  degeneration.  Loyalty 
to  human  tradition  is  often  substituted,  unconsciously 
no  doubt,  for  loyalty  to  God.  The  sublime  purity  and 
nobility  of  the  one  passes  into  the  obstinacy,  the  self- 
righteousness,  the  self-assertion  of  the  other.  When 
a  man  of  the  genuine  type  does  appear,  men  are 
arrested,  astonished,  as  if  by  a  supernatural  apparition. 
The  very  rareness,  the  eccentricity  of  the  character, 
secures  a  respectful  homage.  And  yet,  who  can  deny 
that  it  is  the  true  representation  of  what  every  man 
should  be  who  says,  '^  I  believe  in  God,  the  Father 
Almighty,  Maker  of  heaven  and  earth  "  ? 

After  a  life  of  a  hundred  and  ten  years  the  hour 
comes  when  Joshua  must  die.  We  have  no  record  of 
the  inner  workings  of  his  spirit,  no  indication  of  his 
feelings  in  view  of  his  sins,  no  hint  as  to  the  source  of 
his  trust  for  forgiveness  and  acceptance.     But  we  readily 


xxiv.]  JOSHUA'S  LAST  APPEAL.  399 


think  of  him  as  the  heir  of  the  faith  of  his  father 
Abraham,  the  heir  of  the  righteousness  that  is  by  faith, 
and  as  passing  calmly  into  the  presence  of  his  Judge, 
because,  Hke  Jacob,  he  has  waited  for  His  salvation. 
He  was  well  entitled  to  the  highest  honours  that  the 
nation  could  bestow  on  his  memory;  for  all  owed  to 
him  their  homes  and  their  rest.  His  name  must  ever 
be  coupled  with  that  of  the  greatest  hero  of  the  nation  : 
Moses  led  them  out  of  the  house  of  bondage ;  Joshua 
led  them  into  the  house  of  rest.  Sometimes,  as  we 
have  already  said,  it  has  been  attempted  to  draw  a 
sharp  antithesis  between  Moses  and  Joshua,  the  one 
as  representing  the  law,  and  the  other  as  representing 
the  gospel.  The  antithesis  is  more  in  word  than  in 
deed.  Moses  represented  both  gospel  and  law,  for  he 
brought  the  people  out  of  the  bondage  of  Egypt ;  he 
brought  them  to  their  marriage  altar,  and  he  unfolded 
to  the  bride  the  law  of  her  Divine  husband's  house. 
Joshua  conducted  the  bride  to  her  home,  and  to  the 
rest  which  she  was  to  enjoy  there ;  but  he  was  not  less 
emphatic  than  Moses  in  insisting  that  she  must  be  an 
obedient  wife,  following  the  law  of  her  husband.  It 
were  difficult  to  say  which  of  them  was  the  more 
instructive  type  of  Christ,  both  in  feeling  and  in  act. 
The  love  of  each  for  his  people  was  most  intense,  most 
self-denying ;  and  neither  of  them,  had  he  been  called 
on,  would  have  hesitated  to  surrender  his  life  for  their 
sake. 

It  is  probably  a  mere  incidental  arrangement  that 
the  book  concludes  with  a  record  of  the  burial  of 
Joseph,  and  of  the  death  and  burial  of  Eleazar,  the 
son  of  Aaron.  In  point  of  time,  we  can  hardly  suppose 
that  the  burial  of  Joseph  in  the  field  of  his  father  Jacob 


4O0  THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 

in  Shechem  was  delayed  till  after  the  death  of  Joshua. 
It  would  be  a  most  suitable  transaction  after  the 
division  of  the  country,  and  especially  after  the  territor}^ 
that  contained  the  field  had  been  assigned  to  Ephraim, 
Joseph's  son.  It  would  be  like  a  great  doxology — a 
Te  Deum  celebration  of  the  fulfilment  of  the  promise 
in  which,  so  many  centuries  before,  Joseph  had  so 
nobly  shown  his  trust. 

But  why  did  not  Joseph's  bones  find  their  resting-place 
in  the  time-honoured  cave  of  Macpelah  ?  Why  was  he 
not  laid  side  by  side  with  his  father,  who  would  doubt- 
less have  liked  right  well  that  his  beloved  son  should 
be  laid  at  his  side  ?  We  can  only  say  in  regard  to 
Joseph  as  in  regard  to  Rachel,  that  the  right  of  burial  in 
that  tomb  seems  to  have  been  limited  to  the  wife  who 
was  recognised  by  law,  and  to  the  son  who  inherited 
the  Messianic  promise.  The  other  members  of  the 
family  must  have  their  resting-place  elsewhere ;  more- 
over, there  was  this  benefit  in  Joseph  having  his 
burial-place  at  Shechem,  that  it  was  in  the  very  centre 
of  the  country,  and  near  the  spot  where  the  tribes  were 
to  assemble  for  the  great  annual  festivals.  For  many  a 
generation  the  tomb  of  Joseph  would  be  a  memorable 
witness  to  the  people ;  by  it  the  patriarch,  though  dead, 
would  continue  to  testify  to  the  faithfulness  of  God ; 
while  he  would  point  the  hopes  of  the  godly  people 
still  onward  to  the  future,  when  the  last  clause  of  the 
promise  to  Abraham  would  be  emphatically  fulfilled, 
and  that  Seed  would  come  forth  among  them  in  whom 
all  the  families  of  the  earth  would  be  blessed. 

Was  there  a  reason  for  recording  the  death  of 
Eleazar  ?  Certainly  there  was  a  fitness  in  placing 
together  the  record  of  the  death  of  Joshua  and  the 
death  of  Eleazar.     For  Joshua  was   the  successor  of 


xxiv.]  JOSHUA'S  LAST  APPEAL.  401 

Moses,  and  Eleazar  was  the  successor  of  Aaron.  The 
simultaneous  mention  of  the  death  of  both  is  a  signifi- 
cant indication  that  the  generation  to  which  they 
belonged  had  now  passed  away.  A  second  age  after 
the  departure  from  Egypt  had  now  slipped  into  the  silent 
past.  It  was  a  token  that  the  duties  and  responsi- 
bilities of  life  had  now  come  to  a  new  generation,  and 
a  silent  warning  to  them  to  remember  how 

"Time  like  an  ever-rolling  stream 
Bears  all  its  sons  away ; 
They  fly  forgotten,  as  a  dream 
Dies  at  the  opening  day." 

How  short  the  life  of  a  generation  seems  when  we 
look  back  to  these  distant  days  1  How  short  the  life 
of  the  individual  when  he  realizes  that  his  journey 
is  practically  ended  I  How  vain  the  expectation  once 
cherished  of  an  indefinite  future,  when  there  would  be 
ample  time  to  make  up  for  all  the  neglects  of  earlier 
years  I  God  give  us  all  to  know  the  true  meaning  of 
that  w^ord,  ''  the  time  is  short,"  and  '*  so  teach  us  to 
number  our  days,  that  we  may  apply  our  hearts  unto 
wisdom ! " 


26 


CHAPTER   XXXIII. 
JOSHUA'S   WORK  FOR  ISRAEL. 

IT  now  only  remains  for  us  to  take  a  retrospective 
view  of  the  work  of  Joshua,  and  indicate  what  he 
did  for  Israel  and  the  mark  he  left  on  the  national 
history. 

I.  Joshua  was  a  soldier — a  believing  soldier.  He 
was  the  first  of  a  type  that  has  furnished  many  remark- 
able specimens.  Abraham  had  fought,  but  he  had 
fought  as  a  quaker  might  be  induced  to  fight,  for  he 
was  essentially  a  man  of  peace.  Moses  had  superin- 
tended military  campaigns,  but  Moses  was  essentially 
a  priest  and  a  prophet.  Joshua  was  neither  quaker, 
nor  priest,  nor  prophet,  but  simply  a  soldier.  There 
were  fighting  men  in  abundance,  no  doubt,  before  the 
flood,  but  so  far  as  we  know,  not  believing  men.  Joshua 
was  the  first  of  an  order  that  seems  to  many  a  moral 
paradox — a  devoted  servant  of  God,  yet  an  enthusiastic 
fighter.  His  mind  ran  naturally  in  the  groove  of 
military  work.  To  plan  expeditions,  to  devise  methods 
of  attacking,  scattering,  or  annihilating  opponents,  came 
naturally  to  him.  A  military  genius,  he  entered  con 
amove  into  his  work. 

Yet  along  with  this  the  fear  of  God  continually  con- 
trolled and  guided  him.  He  would  do  nothing  deliber- 
ately unless  he  was  convinced  that  it  was  the  will  of 

403 


JOSHUA'S   WORK  FOR  ISRAEL.  403 


God.  In  all  his  work  of  slaughter,  he  believed  himself 
to  be  fulfilling  the  righteous  purposes  of  Jehovah.  His 
life  was  habitually  guided  by  regard  to  the  unseen. 
He  had  no  ambition  but  to  serve  his  God  and  to  serve 
his  country.  He  would  have  been  content  with  the 
plainest  conditions  of  life,  for  his  habits  were  simple 
and  his  tastes  natural.  He  believed  that  God  was 
behind  him,  and  the  belief  made  him  fearless.  His 
career  of  almost  unbroken  success  justified  his  faith. 

There  have  been  soldiers  who  were  religious  in  spite 
of  their  being  soldiers — some  of  them  in  their  secret 
hearts  regretting  the  distressing  fortune  that  made  the 
sword  their  weapon ;  but  there  have  also  been  men 
whose  energy  in  religion  and  in  fighting  have  supported 
and  strengthened  each  other.  Such  men,  however,  are 
usually  found  only  in  times  of  great  moral  and  spiritual 
struggle,  v/hen  the  brute  force  of  the  v/orld  has  been 
mustered  in  overwhelming  mass  to  crush  some  religious 
movement.  They  have  an  intense  conviction  that  the 
movement  is  of  God,  and  as  to  the  use  of  the  sword, 
they  cannot  help  themselves ;  they  have  no  choice,  for 
the  instinct  of  self-defence  compels  them  to  draw  it. 
Such  are  the  warriors  of  the  Apocalypse,  the  soldiers 
of  Armageddon ;  for  though  their  battle  is  essentially 
spiritual,  it  is  presented  to  us  in  that  military  book 
under  the  symbols  of  material  warfare.  Such  were  the 
Ziskas  and  Procopses  of  the  Bohemian  reformation; 
the  Gustavus  Adolphuses  of  the  Thirty  Years'  War; 
the  Cromwells  of  the  Commonwealth,  and  the  General 
Leslies  of  the  Covenant.  Ruled  supremely  by  the  fear 
of  God,  and  convinced  of  a  Divine  call  to  their  work, 
they  have  communed  about  it  with  Him  as  closely  and 
as  truly  as  the  missionary  about  his  preaching  or  his 
translating,  or  the  philanthropist  about  his  homes  or 


404  THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 

his  rescue  agencies.  To  God's  great  goodness  it  has 
ever  been  their  habit  to  ascribe  their  successes ;  and 
when  an  enterprise  has  failed,  the  causes  of  failure  have 
been  sought  for  in  the  Divine  displeasure.  Nor  in  their 
intercourse  with  their  families  and  friends  have  they 
been  usually  wanting  in  gentler  graces,  in  affection,  in 
generosity,  or  in  pity.  All  this  must  be  freely  admitted, 
even  by  those  to  whom  war  is  most  obnoxious.  It  is 
quite  consistent  with  the  conviction  that  a  large  propor- 
tion of  wars  has  been  utterly  unjustifiable,  and  that 
in  ordinary  circumstances  the  sword  is  no  more  to  be 
regarded  as  the  right  and  proper  weapon  for  settling 
the  quarrels  of  nations  than  the  duel  for  settling  the 
quarrels  of  individuals.  And  the  best  of  soldiers 
cannot  but  feel  that  fighting  is  at  best  a  cruel  necessity, 
and  that  it  will  be  a  happy  day  for  the  world  when  men 
shall  beat  their  swords  into  ploughshares  and  their 
spears  into  pruning-hooks. 

2.  Being  a  soldier,  Joshua  confined  himself  in  the 
main  to  the  work  of  a  soldier.  That  work  was  to 
conquer  the  enemy  and  to  divide  the  land.  To  these 
two  departments  he  limited  himself,  in  subordination, 
however,  to  his  deep  conviction  that  they  were  only 
means  to  an  end,  and  that  that  end  would  be  utterly 
missed  unless  the  people  were  pervaded  by  loyalty 
to  God  and  devotion  to  the  mode  of  worship  which  He 
had  prescribed.  No  opportunity  of  impressing  that 
consideration  on  their  minds  was  neglected.  It  la}^ 
at  the  root  of  all  their  prosperity ;  and  if  Joshua  had 
not  pressed  it  on  them  by  every  available  means,  all 
his  work  would  have  been  like  pouring  water  on  sand 
or  sowing  seed  upon  the  rocks  of  the  seashore. 

Joshua  was  not  called  to  ecclesiastical  work,  certainly 
not  in  the  sense  of  carrying  out  ecclesiastical  details 


JOSHUA'S   WORK  FOR  ISRAEL.  405 


That  department  belonged  to  the  high  priest  and  his 
brethren.     While  Moses  lived,  it  had  been  under  him, 
because  Moses  was  head  of  all  departments.     Neither 
did  Joshua  take  in  hand  the  arrangement  in  detail  of 
the  civil  department  of  the  commonwealth.     That  was 
mainly  work  for  the  elders  and   officers  appointed  to 
regulate  it.     It  is  from  the  circumstance  that  Joshua 
personally  confined    himself  to  his   two   great   duties, 
that  the   book  which  bears  his   name  travels  so  little 
beyond  these.     Reading  Joshua  alone,  we  might  have 
the  impression  that  very  little  attention  was  paid  to  the 
ritual   enacted   in    the    books  of  Moses.      We    might 
suppose   that    but   little   was   done   to   carry    out    the 
provisions  of  the  Torah,  as  the  law  came  to  be  called. 
But  the  inference  would  not  be  warranted,  for  the  plain 
reason  that  such  things  did  not  come  within  the  sphere 
of  Joshua  or  the   scope  of  the  book  which  bears  his 
name.       We    may    make   what   we    can    of  incidental 
allusions,  but  we  need  not  expect  elaborate  descriptions. 
There  are  many  things  that  it  would  have  been  highly 
interesting  for  us  to  know  regarding  this  period  of  the 
history  of  Israel ;   but  the  book  limits  itself  as  Joshua 
limited  himself.     It  is  not  a  full  history  of  the  times. 
It  is  not  a  chapter  of  universal  national  annals.     It 
is  a  history   of  the  settlement,  and  of  Joshua's  share 
in  the  settlement. 

And  the  fact  that  it  has  this  character  is  a  testimony 
to  its  authenticity.  Had  it  been  a  work  of  much  later 
date,  it  is  not  likely  that  it  would  have  been  confined 
within  such  narrow  limits.  It  would  in  all  likelihood 
have  presented  a  much  larger  view  of  the  state  and 
progress  of  the  nation  than  the  existing  book  does. 
The  fact  that  it  is  made  to  revolve  so  closely  round 
Joshua  seems  to  indicate  that  Joshua's  personality  was 


4o6  THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 


Still  a  great  power ;  the  remembrance  of  him  was  bright 
and  vivid  when  the  book  was  written.  Moreover,  the 
lists  of  names,  many  of  which  seem  to  have  been  the  old 
Canaanite  names,  and  to  have  dropped  out  of  the  Hebrew 
history  because  the  cities  were  not  actually  taken  from 
the  Canaanites,  and  did  not  become  Hebrew  cities, 
is  another  testimony  to  the  contemporary  date  of  the 
book,  or  of  the  documents   on  which  it  is  founded. 

3.  If  we  examine  carefully  Joshua's  character  as  a 
soldier,  or  rather  as  a  strategist,  we  shall  probably  find 
that  he  had  one  defect.  He  does  not  appear  to  have 
succeeded  in  making  his  conquests  permanent.  What 
he  gained  one  day  was  often  won  back  by  the  enemy 
after  a  little  time.  To  read  the  account  of  what 
happened  after  the  victory  of  Gibeon  and  Bethhoron, 
one  would  infer  that  all  the  region  south  of  Gibeon  fell 
completely  into  his  hands.  Yet  by-and-by  we  find 
Hebron  and  Jerusalem  in  possession  of  the  enemy, 
while  a  hitherto  unheard-of  king  has  come  into  view, 
Adonibezek,  of  Bezek,  of  whose  people  there  were  slain, 
after  the  death  of  Joshua,  ten  thousand  men  (Judg.  i.  4). 
With  regard  to  Hebron  we  read  first  that  Joshua  '*  fought 
against  it  and  took  it,  and  smote  it  with  the  edge  of 
the  sword,  and  the  king  thereof,  and  all  the  cities 
thereof,  and  all  the  souls  that  were  therein ;  he  left 
none  remaining,  but  destroyed  it  utterly,  and  all  the 
souls  that  were  therein  "  (Josh.  x.  37).  Yet  not  long 
after,  when  Caleb  requested  Hebron  for  his  inheritance, 
it  was  (as  we  have  seen)  on  the  very  ground  that  it 
was  strongly  held  by  the  enemy  :  ''  if  so  be  the  Lord 
will  be  with  me,  then  I  shall  be  able  to  drive  them 
out,  as  the  Lord  said  "  (xiv.  12).  Again,  in  the  campaign 
against  Jabin,  King  of  Hazor,  while  it  is  said  that 
Hazor  was  utterly  destroyed,  it  is  also  said  that  Joshua 


JOSHUA'S   WORK  FOR  ISRAEL.  407 

did  not  destroy  ^*  the  cities  that  stood  on  their  mounds  " 
(xi.  13,  R.V.)  ;  accordingly  we  find  that  some  time  after, 
another  Jabin  was  at  the  head  of  a  restored  Hazor, 
and  it  was  against  him  that  the  expedition  to  which 
Barak  was  stimulated  by  the  prophetess  Deborah  was 
undertaken  (Judg.  iv.  2).  Whether  Joshua  miscal- 
culated the  number  and  resources  of  the  Canaanites 
in  the  country ;  or  whether  he  was  unable  to  divide 
his  own  forces  so  as  to  prevent  the  re-occupation  and 
restoration  of  places  that  had  once  been  destroyed ; 
or  whether  he  over-estimated  the  effects  of  his  first 
victories  and  did  not  allow  enough  for  the  determination 
of  a  conquered  people  to  fight  for  their  homes  and  their 
altars  to  the  last,  we  cannot  determine ;  but  certainly 
the  result  was,  that  after  being  defeated  and  scattered 
at  the  first,  they  rallied  and  gathered  together,  and 
presented  a  most  formidable  problem  to  the  tribes  in 
their  various  settlements.  There  is  no  reason  for 
resorting  to  the  explanation  of  our  modern  critics  that 
we  have  here  traces  of  two  writers,  of  whom  the  policy 
of  the  one  was  to  represent  that  Joshua  was  wholly 
victorious,  and  of  the  other  that  he  was  very  far  from 
successful.  The  true  view  is,  that  his  first  invasion, 
or  run-over,  as  it  may  be  called,  was  a  complete  success, 
but  that,  through  the  rallying  of  his  opponents,  much 
of  the  ground  which  he  gained  at  the  beginning  was 
afterwards  lost. 

4.  The  great  service  of  Joshua  to  his  people  (as  we 
have  already  remarked)  was,  that  he  gave  them  a 
settlement.  He  gave  them — Rest.  Some,  indeed,  may 
be  disposed  to  question  whether  that  which  Joshua 
did  give  them  was  worthy  of  the  name  of  rest.  If 
the  Canaanites  were  still  among  them,  disputing  the 
possession  of  the  country  ;  if  savage  Adonibezeks  were 


4o8  THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 


Still  at  large,  whose  victims  bore  in  their  mutilated 
bodies  the  marks  of  their  cruelty  and  barbarity ;  if 
the  power  of  the  Philistines  in  the  south,  the  Sidonians 
in  the  north,  and  the  Geshurites  in  the  north-east  was 
still  unbroken,  how  could  they  be  said  to  have  obtained 
rest? 

The  objection  proceeds  from  inabilit}^  to  estimate  the 
force  of  the  comparative  degree.  Joshua  gave  them 
rest  in  the  sense  that  he  gave  them  homes  of  their  own. 
There  was  no  more  need  for  the  wandering  life  which 
they  had  led  in  the  wilderness.  They  had  more  com- 
pact and  comfortable  habitations  than  the  tents  of  the 
desert  with  their  slim  coverings  that  could  effectually 
shut  out  neither  the  cold  of  winter,  nor  the  heat  of 
summer,  nor  the  drenching  rains.  They  had  brighter 
objects  to  look  out  on  than  the  scanty  and  monotonous 
vegetation  of  the  wilderness.  No  doubt  they  had  to 
defend  their  new  homes,  and  in  order  to  do  so  they  had 
to  expel  the  Canaanites  who  were  still  hovering  about 
them.  But  still  they  were  real  homes ;  they  were  not 
homes  which  they  merely  expected  or  hoped  to  get, 
but  homes  which  they  had  actually  gotten.  They  were 
homes  with  the  manifold  attractions  of  country  life — 
the  field,  the  well,  the  garden,  the  orchard,  stocked 
with  vine,  fig,  and  pomegranate  ;  the  olive  grove,  the 
rocky  crag,  and  the  quiet  glen.  The  sheep  and  the 
oxen  might  be  seen  browsing  in  picturesque  groups  on 
the  pasture  grounds,  as  if  they  were  part  of  the  family. 
It  was  an  interest  to  watch  the  progress  of  vegetation, 
to  mark  how  the  vine  budded,  and  the  lily  sprang  into 
beauty,  to  pluck  the  first  rose,  or  to  divide  the  first 
ripe  pomegranate.  Life  had  a  new  interest  when  on 
a  bright  spring  morning  the  young  man  could  thus 
invite  his  bride  : — 


JOSHUA'S   IVORK  FOR  ISRAEL.  409 


"  Rise  up  my  love,  my  fair  one,  and  come  away. 
For,  lo,  tlie  winter  is  past. 
The  rain  is  over  and  gone ; 
The  flowers  appear  on  the  earth  ; 
The  time  of  the  singing  of  birds  is  come. 
And  the  voice  of  the  turtle  is  heard  in  our  land  ; 
The  fig  tree  putteth  forth  her  green   figs, 
And  the  vines  with  the  tender  grape  give  a  good  smell." 

This,  as  it  were,  was  Joshua's  gift  to  Israel,  or  rather 
God's  gift  through  Joshua.  It  was  well  fitted  to  kindle 
their  gratitude,  and  though  not  yet  complete  or  perfectly 
secure,  it  was  entitled  to  be  called  ^^  rest."  For  if  there 
was  still  need  of  fighting  to  complete  the  conquest,  it 
was  fighting  under  eas}^  conditions.  If  they  went  out 
under  the  influence  of  that  faith  of  which  Joshua  had 
set  them  so  memorable  an  example,  they  were  sure  of 
protection  and  of  victory.  Past  experience  had  shown 
to  demonstration  that  none  of  their  enemies  could 
stand  before  them,  and  the  future  would  be  as  the  past 
had  been.  God  w^as  still  among  them  ;  if  they  called 
on  Him,  He  would  arise,  their  enemies  would  be 
scattered,  and  they  that  hated  Him  would  flee  before 
Him.  Fidelity  to  Him  would  secure  all  the  blessings 
that  had  been  read  out  at  Mount  Gerizim,  and  to  which 
they  had  enthusiastically  shouted.  Amen.  The  picture 
drawn  by  Moses  before  his  death  would  be  realized  in 
its  brightest  colours  :  '*  Blessed  shalt  thou  be  in  the 
city,  and  blessed  shalt  thou  be  in  the  field.  Blessed 
shall  be  the  fruit  of  thy  body,  and  the  fruit  of  thy 
ground,  and  the  fruit  of  thy  cattle,  the  increase  of  thy 
kine,  and  the  flocks  of  thy  sheep.  Blessed  shall  be 
thy  basket  and  thy  store.  Blessed  shalt  thou  be  when 
thou  comest  in,  and  blessed  when  thou  goest  out." 

But  here  a  very  serious  objection  may  be  interposed. 
Is  it  conceivable,   it  may  be   asked,  that  this  serene 


410  THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 


satisfaction  was  enjoyed  by  the  Israelites  when  they 
had  got  their  new  homes  only  by  dispossessing  the 
former  owners  ;  when  all  around  them  was  stained  by 
the  blood  of  the  slain,  and  the  shrieks  and  groans  of 
their  predecessors  were  yet  sounding  in  their  ears  ? 
If  these  homes  were  not  haunted  by  the  ghosts  of  their 
former  owners,  must  not  the  hearts  and  consciences  of 
the  new  occupants  have  been  haunted  by  recollections 
of  the  scenes  of  horror  which  had  been  enacted  there  ? 
is  it  possible  that  they  should  have  been  in  that  tranquil 
and  happy  frame  in  which  they  would  really  enjoy  the 
sweetness  of  their  new  abodes  ? 

The  question  is  certainly  a  disturbing  one,  and  any 
answer  that  may  be  given  to  it  must  seem  imperfect, 
just  because  we  are  incapable  of  placing  ourselves 
wholly  in  the  circumstances  of  the  children  of  Israel. 

We  are  incapable  of  entering  into  the  callousness  of 
the  Oriental  heart  in  reference  to  the  sufiferins^s  or  the 
death  of  enemies.     Exceptions   there   no  doubt  were  ; 
but,  as  a  rule,  indifference  to  the  condition  of  enemies, 
whether  in  life  or  in  death,  w^as  the  prevalent  feeling. 

Two  parts  of  their  nature  were  liable  to  be  affected 
by  the  change  which  put  the  Israelites  in  possession 
of  the  houses  and  fields  of  the  destroyed  Canaanites — 
their  consciences  and  their  hearts. 

With  regard  to  their  consciences  the  case  was  clear  : 
"The  earth  is  the  Lord's,  and  the  fulness  thereof;  the 
world,  and  they  that  dwell  therein."  God,  as  owner  of 
the  land  of  Canaan,  had  given  it,  some  six  hundred 
years  before,  to  Abraham  and  his  seed.  That  gift  had 
been  ratified  by  many  solemnities,  and  belief  in  it  had 
been  kept  alive  in  the  hearts  of  Abraham's  descendants 
from  generation  to  generation.  There  had  been  no 
secret  about  it,   and  the  Canaanites  must  have  been 


JOSHUA'S   WORK  FOR  ISRAEL,  411 


familiar  with  the  tradition.  Consequent!}^,  during  all 
these  centuries,  they  had  been  but  tenants  at  will. 
When,  under  the  guidance  of  Jehovah,  Israel  crossed 
the  Red  Sea  and  the  army  of  Pharaoh  was  drowned, 
a  pang  must  have  shot  through  the  breasts  of  the 
Canaanitcs,  and  the  news  must  have  come  to  them  as 
a  notice  to  quit.  The  echoes  of  the  Song  of  Moses 
reverberated  through  the  whole  region  : — 

"  The  peoples  have  heard,  they  tremble : 
Pangs  have  taken  hold  of  the  inhabitants  of  Philistia. 
Then  were  the  dukes  of  Edom  amazed  ; 
The  mighty  men  of  Moab,  trembling  taketh  hold  of  them : 
All  the  inhabitants  of  Canaan  are  melted  away. 
Terror  and  dread  falleth  upon  them ; 

By  the  greatness  of  Thine  arm  they  are  as  still  as  a  stone  ; 
Till  Thy  people  pass  over,  O  Lord, 
Till  the  people  pass  over  which  Thou  hast  purchased. 
Thou  shalt  bring  them  in,  and  plant  them  in  the  mountain  of  Thine 

inheritance 
The  place,  O  Lord,  which  Thou  hast  made  for  Thee  to  dwell  in, 
The  sanctuary,  O  Lord,  which  Thy  hands  have  established. 
The  Lord  shall  reign  for  ever  and  ever." 

It  was  well  known,  therefore,  that,  so  far  as  Divine  right 
went,  the  children  of  Israel  were  entitled  to  the  land. 
But  even  after  that,  the  Canaanites  had  a  respite  and 
enjoyed  possession  for  forty  3^ears.  Besides,  they  had 
been  judicially  condemned  on  account  of  their  sins ;  and, 
moreover,  when  they  first  came^into  the  country,  they  had 
dispossessed  the  former  inhabitants.  At  last,  after  long 
dela}^,  the  hour  of  destiny  arrived.  When  the  Israelites 
took  possession  they  felt  that  they  were  only  regaining 
their  own.  It  was  not  they,  but  the  Canaanites,  that 
were  the  intruders,  and  any  feeling  on  the  question  of 
right  in  the  minds  of  the  Israelites  would  rather  be 
that  of  indignation  at  having  been  kept  out  so  long 
of  what    had    been    promised    to   Abraham,    than    of 


4U  TtiE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 

squeamishness    at    dispossessing    the    Canaanites    of 
property  which  was  not  their  own. 

Still,  one  might  suppose  there  remained  scope  for 
natural  pity.  But  this  was  not  very  active.  We  may 
gather  something  of  the  prevalent  feeling  from  the  song 
of  Deborah  and  the  action  of  Jael.  It  was  not  an  age 
of  humanity.  The  whole  period  of  the  Judges  was 
indeed  an  **  iron  age."  Gideon,  Jephthah,  Samson, 
were  men  of  the  roughest  fibre.  Even  David's  treat- 
ment of  his  Ammonite  prisoners  was  revolting.  All  that 
can  be  said  for  Israel  is,  that  their  treatment  of  enemies 
did  not  reach  that  infamous  pre-eminence  of  cruelty 
for  which  the  Assyrians  and  the  Babylonians  were 
notorious.  But  they  had  enough  of  the  prevailing 
callousness  to  enable  them  to  enter  without  much  dis- 
comfort on  the  homes  and  possessions  of  their  dispos- 
sessed foes.  They  had  no  such  sentimental  reserve 
as  to  interfere  with  a  lively  gratitude  to  Joshua  as  the 
man  who  had  given  them  rest. 

Probably,  in  looking  back  on  those  times,  we  fail  to 
realize  the  marvellous  influence  in  the  direction  of  all 
that  is  humane  and  loving  that  came  into  our  world,  and 
began  to  operate  in  full  force,  with  the  advent  of  our 
Lord  and  Saviour  Jesus  Christ.  We  forget  how  much 
darker  a  world  it  must  have  been  before  the  true  light 
entered,  that  lighteth  every  man  coming  into  the  world. 
We  forget  what  a  gift  God  gave  to  the  world  when 
Jesus  entered  it,  bringing  with  Him  the  light  and  love, 
the  joy  and  peace,  the  hope  and  the  holiness  of  heaven. 
We  forget  that  the  coming  of  Jesus  was  the  rising  of 
the  Sun  of  Righteousness  with  healing  in  His  wings. 
Coming  among  us  as  the  incarnation  of  Divine  love,  it 
was  natural  that  He  should  correct  the  prevailing 
practice  in  the  treatment  of  enemies,  and  infuse  a  new 


JOSHUA'S    WORK  FOR  ISRAEL.  413 

spirit  of  humanity.     Even  the  Apostle  who  afterwards 
became  the   Apostle   of  Love  could  manifest   all    the 
bitterness   of  the   old    spirit    when    he   suggested   the 
calling   down    of  fire    from    heaven    to    burn    up    the 
Samaritan  village  that  would  not  receive  them.      "  Ye 
know  not  what  manner  of  spirit  ye  are  of,  for  the  Son 
of  man  came  not  to  destroy  men's  lives,  but  to  save 
them."      Who   does   not    feel    the    humane    spirit    of 
Christianity  to  be  one  of  its  brightest  gems,  and  one 
of  its  chief  contrasts  with  the  imperfect  economy  that 
preceded  it  ?     It  is  when  we  mark  the  inveteracy  of  the 
old   spirit  of  hatred   that  we  see  how  great  a  change 
Christ  has  introduced.     If  it  was  the  great  distinction 
of  Christ's   love    that    "while   we  were   yet  enemies 
Christ  died   for   us,"   His   precept  to    us    to   love   our 
enemies  ought    to    meet  with  our  readiest  obedience. 
Not  without  profound  prophetic  insight  did  the  angel 
who  announced  the  birth  of  Jesus  proclaim,   ''Glory 
to  God  in  the   highest,   on   earth   peace,  good-will   to 
men." 

Alas !  it  is  with  much  humiliation  we  must  own  that 
in  practising  this  humane  spirit  of  her  Lord  the  progress 
of  the  Church  has  been  slow  and  small.  It  seemed  to 
be  implied  in  the  prophecies  that  Christianity  would 
end  war ;  yet  one  of  the  most  outstanding  phenomena 
of  the  world  is,  the  so-called j Christian  nations  of  Europe 
armed  to  the  teeth,  expending  millions  of  treasure  year 
by  year  on  destructive  armaments,  and  withdrawing 
millions  of  soldiers  from  those  pursuits  which  increase 
wealth  and  comfort,  to  be  supported  by  taxes  wrung 
from  the  sinews  of  the  industrious,  and  to  be  ready, 
when  called  on,  to  scatter  destruction  and  death  among 
the  ranks  of  their  enemies.  Surely  it  is  a  shame  to  the 
diplomacy  of  Europe  that  so  little  is  done  to  arrest  this 


414  THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 


crying  evil ;  that  nation  after  nation  goes  on  increasing 
its  armaments,  and  that  the  only  credit  a  good  statesman 
can  gain  is  that  of  retarding  a  collision,  which,  when 
it  does  occur,  will  be  the  widest  in  its  dimensions, 
and  the  vastest  and  most  hideous  in  the  destruction  it 
deals,  that  the  world  has  ever  seen  !  All  honour  to  the 
few  earnest  men  who  have  tried  to  make  arbitration 
a  substitute  for  war. 

And  surely  it  is  no  credit  to  the  Christian  Church 
that,  when  its  members  are  divided  in  opinion,  there 
should  be  so  much  bitterness  in  the  spirit  of  its  con- 
troversies. Grant  that  what  excites  men  so  keenly 
is  the  fear  that  the  truth  of  God  being  at  stake,  that 
which  they  deem  most  sacred  in  itself,  and  most 
vital  in  its  influence  for  good  is  liable  to  suffer ;  hence 
they  regard  it  a  duty  to  rebuke  sharply  all  who  are 
apparently  prepared  to  betray  it  or  compromise  it. 
Is  it  not  apparent  that  if  love  is  not  mingled  with 
the  controversies  of  Christians,  it  is  vain  to  expect 
violence  and  war  to  cease  among  the  nations  ?  More 
than  this,  if  love  is  not  more  apparent  among  Christians 
than  has  been  common,  we  may  well  tremble  for  the 
cause  itself  One  of  the  leaders  of  German  unbelief 
is  said  to  have  remarked  that  he  did  not  think  Christ- 
ianity could  be  Divine,  because  he  did  not  find  the 
people  called  Christians  paying  more  heed  than  others 
to  the  command  of  Jesus  to  love  their  enemies. 

5.  One  other  service  of  Joshua  to  the  nation  of  Israel 
remains  to  be  noticed  :  he  sought  with  all  his  heart 
that  they  should  be  a  God-governed  people,  a  people 
that  in  every  department  of  life  should  be  ruled  by  the 
endeavour  to  do  God's  will.  He  pressed  this  on  them 
with  such  earnestness,  he  commended  it  by  his  own 
example  with    such    sincerity,   he    brought   his   whole 


JOSHUA'S   WORK  FOR  ISRAEL.  415 


authority  and  influence  to  bear  on  it  with  such 
momentum,  that  to  a  large  extent  he  succeeded,  though 
the  impression  hardly  survived  himself.  ''The  people 
served  the  Lord  all  the  days  of  Joshua,  and  all  the 
days  of  the  elders  that  outlived  Joshua,  who  had  seen 
all  the,"  great  work  of  the  Lord  that  He  had  wrought  for 
Israel."  Joshua  seemed  always  to  be  contending  with 
an  idolatrous  virus  which  poisoned  the  blood  of  the 
people,  and  could  not  be  eradicated.  The  only  thing 
that  seemed  capable  of  crushing  it  was  the  outstretched 
arm  of  Jehovah,  showing  itself  in  some  terrible  form. 
While  the  effect  of  that  display  lasted  the  tendency 
to  Idolatry  was  subdued,  but  not  extirpated ;  and  as 
soon  as  the  impression  of  it  was  spent,  the  evil  broke 
out  anew.  It  was  hard  to  instil  into  them  ruling 
principles  of  conduct  that  would  guide  them  in  spite 
of  outward  influences.  As  a  rule,  they  were  not  like 
Abraham,  Isaac,  and  Jacob,  or  like  Moses  who  ''endured 
as  seeing  Him  who  is  invisible."  Individuals  there 
were  among  them,  like  Caleb  and  Joshua  himself,  who 
walked  by  faith';  but  the  great  mass  of  the  nation  were 
carnal,  and  they  exemplified  the  drift  or  tendency  of 
that  spirit — "  The  carnal  mind  is  enmity  against  God." 
Still  Joshua  laboured  to  press  the  lesson — the  great 
lesson  of  the  theocracy — Let  God  rule  you  ;  follow  in- 
variably His  will.  It  is  a  rule  for  nations,  for  churches, 
for  individuals.  The  Hebrew  theocracy  has  passed 
away  ;  but  there  is  a  sense  in  which  every  Christian 
nation  should  be  a  modified  theocracy.  So  far  as  God 
has  given  abiding  rules  for  the  conduct  of  nations, 
every  nation  ought  to  regard  them.  If  it  be  a  Divine 
principle  that  righteousness  exalteth  a  nation ;  if  it  be  a 
Divine  command  to  remember  the  Sabbath  day  to  keep 
it  holy  ;  if  it  be  a  Divine  instruction  to  rulers  to  deliver 


4i6  THE  BOOK  OF  JOSHUA. 

the  needy  when  he  crieth,  the  poor  also  and  him  that 
hath  no  helper,  in  these  and  in  all  such  matters  nations 
ought  to  be  divinely  ruled.  It  is  blasphemous  to  set 
up  rules  of  expediency  above  these  eternal  emanations 
of  the  Divine  will. 

So,  too,  churches  should  be  divinely  ruled.  There 
is  but  one  Lord  in  the  Christian  Church,  He  that  is 
King  of  kings,  and  Lord  of  lords.  There  may  be  many 
details  in  Church  life  which  are  left  to  the  discretion  of 
its  rulers,  acting  in  accordance  with  the  spirit  of  Scrip- 
ture ;  but  no  church  should  accept  of  any  ruler  whose 
will  may  set  aside  the  will  of  her  Lord,  nor  allow  any 
human  authority  to  supersede  what  He  has  ordained. 

And  for  individuals  the  universal  rule  is  :  ^'  Whatso- 
ever ye  do  in  word  or  deed,  do  all  in  the  name  of  the 
Lord  Jesus,  giving  thanks  unto  God  and  the  Father  b}^ 
Him."  Each  true  Christian  heart  is  a  theocracy — a 
Christ-governed  soul.  Not  ruled  by  external  appliances, 
nor  by  mechanical  rules,  nor  by  the  mere  effort  to 
follow  a  prescribed  example  ;  but  by  the  indwelling 
of  Christ's  Spirit,  by  a  vital  force  communicated  from 
Himself  The  spring  of  the  Christian  life  is  here — 
^'  Not  I,  but  Christ  liveth  in  me."  This  is  the  source 
of  all  the  beautiful  and  fruitful  Christian  lives  that  ever 
have  been,  of  all  that  are,  and  of  all  that  ever  shall  be. 


THE    END, 


